Class (_ Book Gop}iighti\'"_ COFIRIGHT DEPOSm THE ANCIENT WORLD FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO 800 A.D. BY FRANCIS S. BETTEN, SJ. TEACHER OF HISTORY AT ST. IGNATIUS COLLEGE, CLEVELAND, OHIO AND AT CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY SUMMER SCHOOL OMAHA, NEBRASKA o>Kc ALLYN AND BACON Boston Neijj gorit Cbicago COPYRIGHT. 1916, BY FRANCIS S. BETTEN. S.J. SEP II i9!6 Xorluooti ^rrss J. S. Gushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. ©CU437781 PREFACE Sincere thanks are due both to Professor Willis M. West and to Messrs. Allyn and Bacon for the complete liberty they have granted in utilizing and altering the Ancient World. The author of the revision is alone responsible for all the changes introduced into the new book. It contains rather too much than too little matter, and it will be the duty of the teacher to select what he thinks should be studied and what should be omitted or, perhaps, made the subject of cursory reading. The principles guiding the selection of books recommended for reading are laid down in the note preceding the booklist at the end of the volume. May the book, presented in so attractive a shape by the publishers, be found helpful in promoting the great cause of Catholic education. FRANCIS S. BETTEN, S.J. St. Ignatius College, Cleveland, O. m TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGB List of Illustrations . vii List of Maps and Plans Introduction . XI xiii PART I— THE ORIENT CHAPTER A. Mankind Undivided I. B. Historic Nations of the Orient II. Egypt III. The Tigris-Euphrates States IV. The Middle States — Phoenicians and Hebrews V. The Persian Empire VI. Summary of Oriental Civilization 1 11 15 50 72 86 96 PART II — THE GREEKS VII. The Influence of Geography VIII. How we know about Prehistoric Hellas IX. The First (Cretan) Civilization . X. The Homeric Age XI. From the Achaeans to the I*ersian Wars XII. The Persian Wars XIII. Athenian Leadership : The Age of Pericles XIV. Life in the Age of Pericles .... XV. The Peloponnesian War .... XVI. From the Fall of Athens to the Fall of Hellas, 404-338 99 105 111 120 130 167 191 234 246 254 PART III — THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD XVII. Mingling of East and West — Alexander and His Conquests XVIII. The Widespread Hellenistic World 267 277 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Reindeer, drawn by Cave-men in France and in Switzerland 2. Prehistoric Stone Daggers from Scandinavia 3. Series of Axes; Old Stone, New Stone, and Bronze Ages . 4. Some Stages in Fire-making. From Tylor 6. Portion of the Rosetta Stone, containing the hieroglyphs first deciphered 6. Part of the Rosetta Inscription, on a larger scale 7. Photograph of Modern Egyptian sitting by a Sculptured Head of an Ancient King ; to show likeness of feature . 8. Boatmen fighting on the Nile. Egyptian relief . 9. A Capital from Karnak. From Liibke .... 10. Portrait Statue of Amten, a self-made noble of 3200 b.c. . 11. Egyptian Noble hunting Waterfowl on the Nile. After Maspero 12. Temple of Luxor 13. Egyptian Plow. From Rawlinson 14. Market Scene. An Egyptian relief . 15. Shoemakers. Egyptian relief ; from Maspero 16. Sphinx and Pyramids. From a photograph 17. Vertical Section of the Great Pyramid 18. Ra-Hotep; perhaps the oldest portrait statue in existence 19. Princess Nefert ; a portrait statue 5000 years old 20. Temple of Edfu 21. A Relief from the Temple of Hathor at Dendera 22. Egyptian Numerals 23. Isis and Horus 24. Sculptured Funeral Couch ; picturing the soul crouching by the mummy 25. A Tomb Painting ; showing offerings to the dead vii PAGE 2 Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS IS and 26. Weighing the Soul before the Judges of the Dead relief ..... 27. Cheops (Khufii). A portrait statue . 28. Sculptors at Work. An Egyptian relief . 29. Thutmosis III 30. Rameses II 31. Psammetichus in Hieroglyphs 32. Neco in Hieroglyphs 33. Nabuchodonosor in Cuneiform Characters . 34. Colossal Man-beast, from the Palace of Sargon 35. Assyrian Contract Tablet in Duplicate 36. Assyrian Tablets ; showing the older hieroglypl cuneiform eciuivalents in parallel columns 37. An Assyrian '' Book " 38. An Assyrian Dog. A relief on a clay tablet 39. Assyrian " Deluge Tablet*' 40. Assyrian Cylinder Seals .... 41. Impression from a Royal Seal 42. A Lion Hunt. An Assyrian relief 43. Section of the Temple of the Seven Spheres ; " restoration " by Rawlinson 44. Parts of Alphabets 46. Growth of the Letter A . . . . 46. The Temple of Solomon .... 47. Jerusalem To-day, with the road to Bethlehem 48. Impression from a Persian Cylinder Seal . 49. Persian Queen. A fragment of a bronze statue 50. Persian Bronze Lion, at Susa 51. Persian Jewelry 52. Scene in the Vale of Tempe. From a photograph 53. Bronze Dagger from Mycenae, inlaid with gold 54. The Gate of the Lions at Mycenae 55. IMouth of the Palace Sewer at Knossos, 2200 cotta drain pipes. From Baikie . 56. Head of a Bull. From a relief at Knossos Egyptian the according to with later terra- ILLUSTRATIONS IX PAGE 67. The Vaphio Cups, of 1800 or 2000 B.c 112 58. Scroll from the Vaphio Cups, showing stages in netting and taming wild bulls. From Perrot and Chipiez . . .113 50. Vase from Knossos (about 2200 b.c), with sea-life ornament . 114 60. Cretan Writing 115 01. " Throne of Minos." From Baikie 116 62. Cooking Utensils ; found in one tomb at Knossos . . .117 63. Cretan Vase of Late Period (1600 b.c), with conventionalized ornament . . . . . . . . . .118 64:. Ruins of the Entrance to the Stadium at Olympia . . . 133 65. Ruins of Athletic Field at Delphi 137 66. Greek Soldier 148 67. Ground Plan of Temple of Theseus at Athens .... 158 68. Doric Column, with explanations. From the Temple of The- seus ........... 159 69. Ionic Column 159 70. Corinthian Column 159 71. A Doric Capital. From a photograph of a detail of the Par- thenon 160 72. West Front of the Parthenon To-day ; to illustrate Doric style 1(52 73. West Front of Temple of Victory at Athens ; to illustrate Ionic style 163 74. Marathon To-day. From a photograph 175 75. Thermopylae. From a photograph 182 76. The Bay of Salamis. From a photograph .... 185 77. Pericles. A portrait bust ; now in the Vatican . . . 200 78. Side View of a Trireme. From an Athenian relief . . . 201 79. The Acropolis To-day 214 80. Propylaea of the Acropolis To-day ...... 215 81. Erechtheum and Parthenon 216 82. Figures from the Parthenon Frieze 217 83. Sophocles. A portrait statue ; now in the Lateran . . .218 84. Theater of Dionysus at Athens 219 85. Thucydides. A portrait bust ; now in the Capitoline Museum 221 86. The Acropolis as ".restored" by Lambert .... 225 X ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE 87. Women at their Toilet. Two parts of a vase painting . . 228, 88. Greek Women at their Music. From a vase painting . . 229 89. Plan of a Fifth-century Delos House. After Gardiner and Jevons 235 90. Greek Girls at Play. From a vase painting .... 237 91. A Vase Painting showing Paris enticing away Helen . . 238 92. Greek Women, in various activities. A vase painting . . 240 93. A Barber in Terra-cotta. From Bliimner . . . .241 94. Athene 242 95. School Scenes. A bowl painting 244 96. Route of the Long Walls of Athens. From a recent photo- graph 252 97. The Hermes of Praxiteles 258 98. Philip II of Macedon. From a gold medallion struck by Alex- ander 264 99. Alexander. From a gold medallion of Tarsus . . . 268 100. Alexander in a Lion-hunt. Reverse side of the above . . 268 101. Alexander. The Copenhagen head 269 102. Alexander as Apollo. Now in the Capitoline .... 273 103. Pylon of Ptolemy III at Karnak 276 MAPS AND PLANS PAGE 1. The Field of Ancient History 9 2. The First Homes of Civilization. Full page, colored after 12 3. Ancient Egypt 16 4. Egyptian Empire at its Greatest Extent 45 5. Assyrian and Babylonian Empire 55 6. Egypt 76 7. Syria, showing Dominion of Solomon and Other Features of Hebrew History 77 8. Lydia, Media, Egypt, and Babylonia, about 560 b.c. Full page, colored after 86 9. The Persian Empire. Full page, colored . . . after 88 10. Greece and the Adjoining Coasts. Double page, colored after 98 11. The Greek Peninsula. Double page, colored . . after 102 12. The Greek World. (For general reference.) Double page, colored after 136 13. Peloponnesian League 169 14. Plan of Marathon 174 15. Attica, with reference to Marathon and Salamis . . . 184 16. Athens and its Ports, showing the " Long Walls" . . . 193 17. Athenian Empire. Full page, colored . . . after 202 18. Plan of Athens , . 206 19. The Acropolis at Athens 213 20. Greece at the Beginning of the Peloponnesian War. Full page, colored after 250 21. Plan of the Battle of Leuctra 260 22. Greece under Theban Supremacy. Full page, colored after 262 23. The Growth of Macedonia 265 24. Campaigns and Empire of Alexander the Great. Full page, colored after 270 25. The Achaean and Aetolian Leagues 287 26. The World according to Eratosthenes 297 xi THE ANCIENT WORLD INTRODUCTION Historical Sources. — The student learns of the many events and facts which make up the history of mankind from the historical books written and published in our own time. But how do the authors of these books know what happened centuries ago ? They consult what we call the sources of history. There are three kinds of such sources : (1) Oral Traditions. — The stories of happen- ings of the past if handed down and propagated by word of mouth only, are called oral traditions. These stories tell of the deeds of prominent men, both good and bad, or of the beginnings and vicissitudes of nations, and frequently they re- late to matters of relig- ion. Many, perhaps the greatest part of them, have undergone changes in the course of time and have become more or less fabulous. But historians often discover even in these a certain Prehistoric Stone Daggers. XIV INTRODUCTION iimoimt of truth, though it may be obscured by legendary lietioiis. (2) Belies. — By relies we understand the weapons, tools, household things, articles of ornament, etc., which were used by men of former ages ; also their works of art, the ruins of their buildings, the very remains of their tU\ul buried in simple eT'COsLoqiieB.VNTCiR ^ c[ui\ iNipoit^TvreerurRTuie I impeRxispiRnmus Facsimile fkom ihk (\ii>k\ Amiaum t< oi- thk Latin Bir.LK. ET FACrrs EST TAVOK IX OMXUU'S ET rOLLO^>l'Kl?ANTl U AD IXVICEM DICKXTE8 QUOO EST HOC VEUIU^M QUIA IX TOTESTATE ET VIKTl TE IMTEKAT SriKITllUS IMMUXDIS ET EXEUXT Antf there came fear uinin all, and theij talked anionij thetnselre.^, sai/ifuj : What word is this, for with authoriti/ and power he eommandeth the unclean spirits, and the;/ <7o out .^ I.uke iv. i^». Am-iont niamisi'ript copies of iminn-tant books, siu'h as tlio Biblo. aro osilled Coiiii'os. The Codex Amiatimis was orii;inally preserved in the Italian monastery of Aniiatjv, but is now in a library of Florence, Italy. It was written, about the year a. p. o41, by the Abbot Servandus. disciple of St. Benedict. graves or elaborate mausoleums : finally the pictorial repre- sentations in painting and sculpture. (o) Written Ixeeonl.^, inscriptions and especially manuscript or printeil books, coming from persons who are both able and willing to tell the truth. It does not matter whether or not the author lived at the time the events he describes took place, proviiicil it is known that he used reliable sources. THE BIBLE XV The Bible. — The noblest of all the written records concern- ing the history of mankind is the Bible. God himself is the author of this Book of Books ; those whom we call the authors of its various parts acted, as it were, only as God's secretaries. They wrote down what God " inspired " them to write ; the knowledge of the various facts and truths they obtiihied partly through direct revelation from God, partly as a result of their own eiforts ; but God put the seal of His authorship upon whatever they actually embodied in their work. The purpose of this divine condescension was man's eternal salvation by a supernatural life ; no error, therefore, regarding faith and morals could ever find its way into the Bible. God did not intend, however, to furnish the world with a handbook of geology or astronomy or history, or to advance man directly in any of these or other sciences ; hence the sacred writers when touching upon such matters simply reflected the views, scientific or popular, of their own time and surroundings. Their books, if judged by this standard, were in the beginning free from any error. It is not absolutely impossible, however, that errors concerning secular matters, figures, for instance, should have crept in later through the fault of copyists. Pope Leo XIII warns us not to be hasty in presuming such errors ; the scrupulous care always taken for the preservation of this most important document of revealed religion does not make it likely that they are numerous. '' The Bible is not the oldest book in the world. Xo writ- ing, however, no document on stone or clay, no hieroglyphic or cuneiform inscription takes us back to the primitive history of mankind, as told on the first pages of the Bible. The sacred writer drew his information primarily from Divine Revelation, but an unbroken tradition and ancient documents were also at his disposal." {Outlines of Bible Knowledge, Edited by Arch- bishop Messmer, p. 11.) After briefly acquainting us with the general history of the first times of mankind. Holy Writ confines itself to the xvi INTRODUCTION development, successes aud failures of the chosen people of God, the Hebrews, but it is full of references to other nations and their rulers.^ Great care must be exercised when assigning dates to remote events. Relics, and not only tlie ruder ones, frequently leave us without the slightest clew as to the time when they were in actual use. Much of the idle conjectures in so-called popular histories is due to rash conclusions which ignore this fact. Evolution.^ — It has been observed that some plants as well as animals undergo changes when they are acted upon in vari- ous ways by their surroundings. There are many interesting instances of such adaptations. But they are not so numerous as people are often led to think. So-called popular scientific works often enlarge upon them in a manner which is entirely unwarranted by facts. They maintain without the slightest proof, that lifeless matter, under the influence of heat, pressure' or electricity, may " evolve " into a plant, and a plant, large or small, into an animal. Nothing has ever been discovered or observed to substantiate such a preposterous statement. But it is the height of folly to maintain that man himself, body and soul, has " evolved " from some beast. The human soul can only come directly from God. Not even man's body has " evolved " from that of a beast. Holy Scripture tells us how the first men were created. Hence the supposition that rational man is a mere product of natural evolution and that his first stages were spent in the lowest savagery is without foundation and directly contrary to our Faith. It is an error of many modern histories which seek to explain human development, in- tellectual, political, and religious, as independent of God the Creator and His Providence. Human development in as far as it is natural depends upon the exercise of man's natural faculties and not upon some inani- mate or fatalistic force which has its origin in the mere powers of matter. 1 For editions of the Bible, see Appendix. 2 The teacher may postpone the study of this section and the following to some time later in the year, that is, if he sees fit to make it an object of recitation at all. He may explain the matter orally or refer to these pages as occasion requires. CIVILIZATION xvii Civilization. — We live in a civilized country. We have good houses, build beautiful churches and schools, and splendid cities, and a good government preserves order in the land. A farming class tills the soil and thereby provides food for the whole population. Other peoples live a different life. Their dwellings are the rudest kind of huts or tents or even caverns in the ground. Such peoples we say are not civilized at all, or at any rate, they are on the lowest level of civilization. We speak of material civiliza- tion, by which we mean the con- trol and employment of nature, its treasures and its forces, as the fruits of the earth, the metals, wind, lire, water, elec- tricity. Intellectual civilization stands higher ; it shows itself in the pursuit of learning and all kinds of art. There is also a social civilization ; it consists in good government, in a cer- tain refinement of manners, and above all in the integrity of family life, which is the natural foundation of society. But higher than all this is religious and moral civilization. Indi- vidual man as well as the whole race must pay due respect to the Creator and observe the laws which God has given. A nation which is wanting in this lacks the most necessary element in true civilization. These sundry elements, however, are not separated from one another by hard and fast lines. Many features of a nation's life may be classed under several of them. The terms " savagery " and " barbarism " are often used to denote the lowest and a somewhat higher degree of civilization. But care is required in using them. They are frequently meant to denote not only rude material conditions, but also in- 2, 3, Stone Axes. Bronze Axe. XVlll INTRODUCTION Reindeer, by Cave-Dwellers (Stone Age). On slate, in France. On horn, in Switzerland. (For some thousands of years, tlie reindeer has been extinct in these countries. Compare these drawings with modern pictures for accuracy of detail ; and note the remarkable spirit and action depicted by the prehistoric artists.) tellectual inferiority, and even a low standing of morality. Yet a primitive people may display a keen mental acumen or possess a great purity of morals and correct religious ideas. For Further Reading if Desired. — Charles S. Devas, Key to the World's Progress, Part I; E. A. Hull, S.J., Civilization and Culture. Each, however, defines civilization somewhat differently. PART I. -THE ORIENT CHAPTER I A. MANKIND UNDIVIDED 1. From the Creation to the Deluge. — "In the beginning God created heaven and earth." In six periods of uncertain duration called " days," the dwelling place of intellectual man was prepared. Then " God formed man of the slime of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Man thus came directly from the hands of his Creator, endowed with perfect faculties of body and soul, and with a wonderful knowledge of the natural things which surrounded him. To make Adam the true foun- tainhead of mankind, the first woman. Eve, was created from his body. She was to be his " helpmate " in the occupations of his earthly existence, but his perfect equal in the vocation to eternal life. Thus God established matrimony. God had raised man from the beginning to an essentially higher level by endowing him with Sanctifying Grace which elevated him to a supernatural order. He had besides bestowed upon him preternatural gifts, as the immortality of the body and freedom from tribulations and diseases. But unfortunately Adam did not stand the test of fidelity and lost Sanctifying Grace together with these gifts for himself as well as his entire posterity. In his mercy, however, God promised a Redeemer who was to atone for the offences against his Divine Majesty and regain for mankind the possibility of entering into Heaven. Soon there must have been a kind of patriarchal community, consisting of the children and children's children of Adam who 1 2 MANKIND UNDIVIDED [§ 1 was its head. The descendants of Adam's first-born son, Cain, excelled in material progress. They were masters in the use of musical instruments and possessed great skill in the working of bronze and iron. But also the relaxation of the marriage tie is on their short record in Holy Writ. The descendants of Setli, another son of Adam, devoted themselves more to a life of piety. Both these clans found their sympathizers and ad- herents. But intermarriages finally brought about a general decline of morals. " The wickedness upon earth was great." Only Noe and several of his family " walked with the Lord." The Deluge. — God now resolved to destroy all mankind by a vast inundation which we call the Deluge. Noe alone with seven other souls was saved in the Ark, a huge craft built by him at God's command. It is difficult for us to form an ade- quate idea of the terrible catastrophe, the result of which was a wholesale destruction of the entire human race. The Ark finally landed somewhere in Armenia. From here the rapidly increasing population began to spread over the whole earth. The inhabitants of a plain called Senaar, the later Babylonia, resolved in sinful pride to erect a city with a colossal tower as a lasting monument of their own power. But their language became " confounded." We may presume that God's inter ference accelerated the differentiation of the languages, which is otherwise a natural process. The locality of this unfinished " Tower of Babel " was probably the city of Babylon or its environs. Concerning the dates of these events, the Church evidently does not mean to bind us to computations based on the figures of the Bible. Chronologists following the Vulgate, the official Latin Bible of the Church, assign 2350 b.c. as the date of the Deluge, while the figures in the Greek Bible which is also acknowledged by the Church would point to 3134 b.c. We may even ascribe to the human race a much longer duration than many of us, perhaps, are accustomed to do. But those who talk of 200,000 years or more have never proved their assertion. Conscientious scientists assure us that there is no reason whatsoever to go beyond eight or, at the most, ten thousand years. As to the extent of the Deluge, we §2] THE NEW NATIONS 3 may, if we choose, hold that the water covered not the entire earth but only the entire " land " where mankind lived. But the opinion that other human beings beside those saved in the Ark survived the Flood is not favored by the Church and lacks scientific proof. 2. The New Nations. — After relating the story of the Tower of Babel, Holy AVrit still gives us the names of Noe's next descendants with some short hints as to their dwelling places. These valuable notes connect as it were by a thin thread many of the great nations of the earth with the eight persons in the Ark. The three sons of Noe became the ancestors of three families of nations. The descendants of Sem (Shem) are called the Semites ; to them belong the Assyrians, Arabs, and Jews. Cham (Ham) was the father of the Hamites, among whom are the Chanaanites (the original inhabitants of Palestine), the Babylonians, Egyptians and the Negroes of Africa. The Aryans or Indo-Europeans, comprising the Hindoos, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, Italians, Celts, Germans and Slavs, were the offspring of eTaphet. Mixture of race, however, and the influence of climate and country produced an infinitely greater variety than this plain enumeration would lead one to believe. There is in fact hardly any people in the world which repre- sents an unmixed stock. It ought not to surprise us, if many a people, the Chinese for instance, does not fit neatly into our simple classification. Sameness of language as a rule argues sameness of origin. Yet some few nations have exchanged their own idiom for that of a neighbor. On the other hand, learned men assure us that the diversities among the inhabitants of the globe, such as color and language, are no reason to doubt the unity of the human race. The languages, in spite of their variety, positively point to one common origin. r -Religious Decay. — Unfortunately this extension of mankind over the earth was, on the whole, accompanied by a decay in religion and morals. In the course of time much of the super- natural truth revealed to Adam and by him transmitted to his children, became obscured. The worship of the One True God 4 MANKIND UNDIVIDED [§ 2 gave way to idolatry. Even the natural knowledge of man's various duties was very generally disregarded or overlaid with gross superstitions and errors. In the beginning this deterioration probably did not proceed very rap- idly. Much that makes on us the impression of polytheism may have been the adoration of the same God under different names. Little by little, too, a people may have come to look upon many violations of the moral law as less blameworthy than they really are. This of course somewhat lessened personal guilt, but became an immense calamity for a nation at large. Every human soul, however, is created immediately by God. On arriving at the full development of its faculties it is able to realize its essential duties, and the transgressions of the natural law are recognized as sinful and deserving of punishment. Hence we should not be surprised if we notice among pagans instances of true natural virtue and even meet with with an honest endeavor to rescue religion and mor- ality from complete ruin. But we also understand the severe verdict of St. Paul who declares of the pagans that "they are inexcusable." (Rom. I, 20.) But the Almighty forgot not the promise given to the first parents. While idolatry threatened to enslave all mankind, He took care that at least one nation still worshipped the God " Who made heaven and earth," and hoped and waited for the appearance of the " light for the revelation of the Gentiles." Civilization after the Flood. — By the time of the flood man- kind must have been on a very high level of civilization. Arts were practised, metal instruments were in use. The construc- tion of a vessel of the dimensions and character of the Ark, and the planning and partial erection of the Tower of Babel, suppose an astounding proficiency in mathematical knowledge and technical ability. This precious heirloom was not sud- denly lost. The various tribes took it along to their new domiciles. It could, however, avail them only where there was a large number of people together and where nature sup- plied the necessary material. If thrown into less favored regions and deprived of connection with the stream of original civilization, they could forget or fail to practise much of what they or their fathers had seen in their ancient homes. Their §2] THE NEW NATIONS 5 civilization sank to a lower level and was likely to sink still lower with every new generation. The natural sources of his- tory disclose the fact that nations living at the same time but in different countries often show a remarkable dilference in civilization. Far from being surprising, this is but the conse- quence of the dispersion of the human race. Such tribes, rendered helpless by isolation and the miserly character of their soil would frequently resort to a very primi- tive mode of life. Stone, wood or bone is the only material they know how to work into implements for household use or into weapons for the chase. Similarly, intellectual civiliza- tion, the taste for arts of all kinds, theoretical knowledge of nature and its secrets, could be wholly or in part forgotten. God's Providence, however, watched over the greatest natural posses- sion of mankind. Some nations always kept the torch of material and intellectual civilization burning and in their turn spread its light abroad. They added to it by their own inventions, by devising better methods of the government of cities and empires, or by increasing the knowledge of nature, and by building up systems of every kind of science. Each people did this according to its own character, thus giving to its civili- zation a peculiar national type. As a matter of fact, just those peoples whose traces we can with some degree of certainty follow back the farthest into remote antiquity, at once appear with a rather full-grown civilization. But the only efficient way of reclaiming fallen races is vigorous contact with one more highly civilized. There is no genuine case known of auto-development of any savage people. Some Terms Relating to Early History. — With the information ob- tained from natural sources we are able to reconstruct with varying accuracy the story of the most important nations. Of some nations we have no written records at all. We call them prehistoric — which, how- ever, is by no means synonymous with savage. Often the traces of pre- historic nations are discovered in localities which later on became the homes of highly civilized peoples. These may or may not have been the descendants of the former. We also speak of Stone Age, Bronze ^ Age, Iron Age, according to the principal material used for implements. But all these terms must be used carefully There has been no general stone 1 Bronze is an amalgamation of copper and tin. It is harder than either of its components, but not by far so hard as iron. 6 MANKIND UNDIVIDED [§ 3 period for all mankind. Many peoples were satisfied with ruder imple- ments while others show a high degree of civilization. Columbus found the natives of America using stone very largely. Nor did stone tools and weapons disappear directly after the introduction of iron. It would be rash to conclude that the "stone men " themselves re4nvented the working of metals, because this art may have been imported. Rasher still would be the verdict that they were inferior in intellect. (See § 2.) As to their religion and morals we have hardly any clew except that they be- stowed much care upon the burial of their dead. We do not apply these terms to pre-diluvian times. Whether there was a pre-diluvian stone age, that is, a period during which the first men com- pletely ignored the metals, we do not know. Maybe their knowledge was included in the extraordinary science of natural things which God granted to our first parents. Nor is the age before the Flood prehistoric. We know of it from a written document, the Bible, the author of which is an infallible eye wit- ness, God Himself. 3. Elementary Features of Civilization. — The civilization of many nations in tlieir earliest period was indeed low. Yet with few if any exceptions all appear to have saved certain elements of pre-diluvian inheritance. Prehistoric civilization, no matter when and where encountered, is in possession of at least three achievements. The historic nations come under our view equipped with the same achievements. The very oldest, however, stand higher than this alone would indicate. These three elements are : — (a) The use of Jire, which perhaps more than any other material advantage shows man superior to the beasts. While the animal flees from it, fire is man's most powerful friend. Charred fragments of bone and wood are common among the earliest human deposits. One of the oldest tools in the world is the " fire borer," a hard stick of wood with which man started a fire by boring into a more inflammable wood. The methods of making fire which are pictured on the next page are all used by prehistoric nations. {h) The use of domestic animals. — They are not the same nor equally numerous with all peoples and in all countries. Those familiar to us in the barnyard or on the farm have come from §3] PJLEMENTARY FEATURES OF CIVILIZATION 7 Asia. The western hemisphere is considerably poorer, and those found there are not so excellently fitted for domestic purposes. This fact partly accounts for the backwardness of America before the discovery. Nations that retained little of Some Sta(;ks in Jt^ iukmaking. — From Tylor the original civilization have few domestic beasts, but there are hardly any that have none at all. (c) The use of agricultural plants, in the lirst place the food-grains, as wheat, barley, rice, and the vegetables. Those who were nearer the stream of original civilization in the Asiatic countries enjoyed a great advantage. Out of the myriads of wild plants all our marvelous progress in science has failed to reveal even one other in the Old World so useful as those which man has already actually cultivated. Their only successful rivals are the potato and maize (Indian corn) contributed by the New World. All the prehistoric nations knew the cultivation of some agricultural plants. (d) To call a nation " historic " we must have written infor- mation about it, records composed by its own chroniclers or by others who knew about it. This presupposes the art of writing. It is impossible to tell when and in what way man obtained this most important accomplishment. It is certainly interesting to learn about the various kinds of writing which our historical sources disclose to us. Many early peoples used a picture writing such as is common still among North American Indians. In this kind of writing, a picture repre- sents either an object or some idea connected with that object. A draw- 8 MANKIND UNDIVIDED [§ 4 ing of an animal with wings may stand for a bird or for flying ; or a character like this O stands for either the sun or for light. At first such pictures are true drawings : later they are simplified into forms agreed upon. Thus in ancient Chinese, man was represented by ji;^, and in modern Chinese hy J\. Vastly important is the advance to a rehus stage of writing. Here a symbol has come to have a sound value wholly apart from the original object, as if the symbol O above were used for the second syllable in de- light. So in early Egyptian writing, O, the symbol for "mouth," was pronounced ru. Therefore it was used as the last syllable in writing the word khopiru., which meant " to be," while symbols of other objects in like manner stood for the other syllables. This representation of syllaMes by pictures of objects is the first stage in sound writing., as distinguished from picture writing proper. Finally, some of these characters are used to represent not whole syllables, but single sounds. One of Kipling's Just So stories illustrates how such a change might come about. Then, if these characters are kept and all others dropped, we have a true alphabet. Picture writing, such as that of the Chinese, requires many thousand symbols. Several hundred char- acters are necessary for even simple syllabic writing. But a score or so of letters are enough for an alphabet. Several prinaitive peoples de- veloped their writing to the syllabic stage; and about 1000 b.c, in various districts about the eastern Mediterranean, alphabetic writing ap- peared. 4. Our Field of History. — It is the historical nations, then, to which we confine ourselves. Prehistoric civilization will be alluded to in so far only as it may throw light upon the condi- tions in historic times. Yet a further limitation is necessary. Soon after the Deluge numerous tribes must have turned toward the East, where we now find tlie multiform populations of China, Japan, and the Indies, with their distinct civiliza- tions. With this large fraction of humanity the present book can not deal. We care most to know of those peoples whose life has borne fruit for our own life. We shall study that part of the recorded past tvhich explains our present. Thus we bound our study in space. We have to limit it in time as well. Until after Columbus, our interest centres in Europe. And when we look for those early peoples to which we must ascribe the greatest influence §4] OUR FIELD OF HISTORY 9 upon the life of Europe, we find two eminent, — the Greeks and the Romans. A third ancient people, the insignificant nation of the Hebrews, had the great mission of keeping the road open for the most important factor in the life of mankind, Chris- tianity. Under the guidance of Christianity newer races were to take up the work. By a.d. 800 all these various influences The Field of Ancient History, to 800 a.d. had merged in one, and the result was the beginning of modern Europe. Ancient History, then will carry us to this date, the turning point in European history. This book will deal with Ancient History only. Of the historic peoples of ancient Europe the Greeks were the first to rise to highly civilized life. But the civilization of the Greeks was not wholly their own. Its germs were received from the older civilizations outside Europe, near the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. The history of these Oriental peoples covered thousands of years ; but we shall view only 10 MANKIND UNDIVIDED [§ 4 fragments of it, and we do that merely by way of introduction to Greek history. Oriental history is a sort of anteroom through which we pass to European history. The Hebrews indeed contributed very little to material civilization. But their importance for our religious and moral culture is paramount. A special Providence watched over this little nation and kept it from being crushed out of existence by overpowerful neighbors. Thus was preserved upon the wide earth a place where the worship of the true God never ceased, and where the coming Redeemer of mankind could find a starting point for His lifework. The field of ancient history, then, is small, compared with the world of our day. It was limited, of course, to the Eastern hemisphere, and covered only a small part of that. At its greatest extent, it reached north only through Central Europe east through less than a third of Asia, and south through only a small part of Northern Africa. Over even this territory it spread very slowly, from much more limited areas. For several thousand years, it did not reach Europe at all. Further Reading. — Chapters I-IX in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) as in Coppen's Choice Morsels, or Ecker's School Bible. Maturer students will tind treatments which they will enjoy and understand in any of the following books : Houck, Our Palace Beautiful, or Man's Place in the Visible Creation. Keary, Dawn of History ; Starr, Some First Steps in Human Progress ; also the books quoted after § 2. The textbook wdll confine its special suggestions for library work in Greek history (up to the period of Alexander) to William Sterns Davis' Readings in Ancient History and to one other single-volume work, — J. B. Bury's History of Greece, — with occasional alternatives suggested for the latter. In like manner, for Rome (to the Empire), the Readings and either Pelhaiu's Outlines of History or How and Leigh's History afford satisfactory material. For Oriental history, there is no one satisfactory volume to go with the Readings ; but library work is less important for that period. B. THE HISTORIC NATIONS OF THE ORIENT The giant ruins of Egyptian glory and the mummies and mummy cases of our museums provoke serious and gloomy reflections. They recall an ancient long vanished ivorld, a buried loorld peering loith the craggy remnants of its walls through the satids of the desert, a world finally winnowed out of the sepulchral dust of millenniums. And yet it existed some time, radiant with sunlight and pleasure, alive with gay andhrilliant crowds and ever stirring activity. — A. Baumgartner, S.J. 5. The Rediscovery of Early History. — Until about a hundred years ago the early history of the East was almost unknown. The precious information contained in the Bil)le and the notes of ancient G-reek travelers disclosed too little about the lands and peoples in the Nile valley and on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris. Yet there were the extensive remains of temples, palaces, and tombs with inscriptions in mysterious characters. A buried world was awaiting its resurrection. The strange writings found in the Euphrates lands were at first set down as some peculiar form of Hebrew or Chinese, or as mere orna- mentations or the effect of the weather. But in a.d. 1802, the German scholar Grotefend was able to identify several royal names. Others by patient labor corrected and completed the result of his studies. About 1850 Rawlinson, one of the greatest investigators, read and translated a gigantic rock inscription, which in three languages celebrated the deeds of Darius I (§§ 75, 76). The kind of writing thus discovered is called " cuneiform " (§ 47), and it was found to have been adapted to a great many Eastern languages. Good luck furnished a clue to the Egyptian kind of writing. About 1800 a.d., some soldiers of Napoleon in Egypt, while laying foundations for a fort at the Rosetta mouth of the Nile (map, page 16), found a curious slab of black rock. This " Rosetta Stone " bore three inscriptions : one of these was in Greek ; one, in the ancient hieroglyphs of the pyramids (§ 22) ; and the third, in a later Egyptian writing, which had likewise been forgotten. A French scholar, Champollion, 11 12 THE HISTORIC NATIONS OF THE ORIENT [§ 5 guessed shrewdly that the three inscriptions all told the same story and used many of the same words ; and in 1822 he proved this to be true. Then, by means of the Greek, he found the meaning of the other characters, and so learned to read the long- •.'^^ISL^6$.^'B!!1^Y i sis W2^Ci:i:S#ir<.W Portion of Rosetta Stone, containing the hieroglyphs first deciphered. From Erman's Life in Ancient Egypt. forgotten language of old Egypt. A key to the language of the inscriptions had been found. At first there was little to read; but a new interest had been aroused, and, about 1850, scholars began extensive ex- plorations in the East. Sites of forgotten cites, buried beneath wrmm imMM^i Part of the Above Inscription, on a larger scale. desert sands, were rediscovered. Many of them contained great libraries on papyrus,^ or on stone and brick. A part of these have been translated ; and since 1880 the results have begun to appear in our books. The explorations are still going on ; and very recent years have been the most fruitful of all in dis- coveries. 1 The papyrus was a reed which grew abundantly in the Nile and the Euphrates rivers. From slices of its stem a kind of " paper " was prepared by laying them together crosswise and pressing them into a smooth sheet. Our word " paper " comes from " papyrus." §7] THE CENTERS OF CIVILIZATION 13 6. The Two Centers. — The first homes of civilization were Egypt and Chaldea, — the lower valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates. In the Euphrates valley the wild wheat and bar- ley afforded abundant food, with little effort on the part of man. The Nile valley had the marvelous date palm and va- rious grains. In each of these lands we very early find a dense population, and so part of the people were able to give atten- tion to other matters than getting food from day to day. In a straight line, Egypt and Chaldea were some eight hun- dred miles apart. Practically, the distance was greater. The only route fit for travel ran along two sides of a triangle, — north from Egypt, between the mountain ranges of western Syria, to the upper waters of the Euphrates, and then down the course of that river. Except upon this Syrian side, Egypt and Chaldea were shut off from other desirable countries. In Asia, civilizations rose at an early date in China and in India (§ 4 ) ; but they were separated from Chaldea by vast deserts and lofty mountains. In Africa, until Roman days, there'was no great civilization ex- cept the Egyptian, unless we count the Abyssinian on the south (map on page 16). The Abyssinians were brave and warlike, and they seem to have drawn some culture from Egypt. But a desert extended between Abyssinia and Egypt, a twelve-day march; and intercourse by the river was cut off by long series of cataracts and rocky gorges. It was hard for trade caravans to travel from one country to the other, and ex- tremely hard for armies to do so. To the west of Egypt lay the Sahara, stretching across the continent, — an immense, in- hospitable tract. On the north and east lay the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; and these broad moats were bridged only at one point by the isthmus. 7. Syria a Third Center.^ — Thus, with sides and rear pro- tected, Egypt faced Asia across the narrow Isthmus of Suez. 1 The term " Syria " is used with a varying meaning. In a narrow sense, as in this passage, it means only the coast region. In a broader use, it applies to all the country between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. 14 THE HISTORIC NATIONS OF THE ORIENT [§ 7 Here, too, the region bordering I^^gypt was largely desert ; but farther north, between the desert and the sea, lay a strip of habitable land. This Syrian region became the trade exchange and battle-ground of the two great states, and drew civilization from them. Syria was itself a nursery of warlike peoples. Here dwelt the Phoenicians, Philistines, Canaanites, Hebrews, Hittites, and other nations, whom we hear of in the Bible. But they do not all appear at the same time in history. Not before 1500 did the Hebrews settle in that part which we now call Palestine. And we hear of their existence much later than of the peoples on the Nile and the Euphrates. Usually all these nations were tributary ^ to Egypt or Ohaldea. Despite Syria's perilous position on the road from Africa to Asia, its inhabitants might have kept their independence, if they could have united against their common foes. But rivers and ranges of mountains broke the country up into five or six districts, all small, and each hostile to the others. At times, however, when both the great powers were weak, there did arise independent Syrian kingdoms, like that of the Jews under David. 1 A tributary couutry is one wliich is subject to some other country, with- out being absolutely joined to it. The " tributary " pays "tribute " and rec- ognizes the authority of the superior country, but for most purposes it keeps its own government. CHAPTER II EGYPT GEOGRAPHY Egypt as a geographical expression is two things — the Desert and the Nile. As a habitable country, it is only one thing — the Nile. — Alfred Milner. 8. The Land. — Ancient Egypt, by the map, included about as much land as Colorado or Italy ; but seven eighths of it was only a sandy border to the real Egypt. The real Egypt is the valley and delta of the Nile — from the cataracts to the sea. It is smaller than Maryland, and falls into two natural parts. Upper Egypt is the valley proper. It is a strip of rich soil about six hundred miles long and usually about ten miles wide — a slim oasis between parallel ranges of desolate hills (map, page 16). For the remaining hundred miles, the valley broadens suddenly into the delta. This Lower Egypt is a squat triangle, resting on a two-hundred-mile base of curving coast where marshy lakes meet the sea. 9. The Nile. — The ranges of hills that bound the "valley'' were originally the banks of a mightier Nile, which, in early ages, cut out a gorge from the solid limestone for the future "valley." The "delta" has been built up out of the mud which the stream has carried out and deposited on the old sea bottom. And what the river has made, it sustains. This was what the Greeks meant when they called Egypt "the gift of the Nile." Rain rarely falls in the valley; and toward the close of the eight cloudless months before the annual overflow, there is a brief period when the land seems gasping for moisture, — "only half alive, waiting the new Nile." The river begins to 15 16 EGYPT [§10 rise in July, swollen by tropical rains at its upper course in distant Abyssinia ; and it does not fully recede into its regular channel until November. During the days while the flood is at its height, Egypt is a sheet of turbid water, spreading be- tween two lines of rock and sand. The waters are dotted with towns and villages, and marked off into compartments by raised roads, run- ning from town to town ; while from a sandy plateau, at a distance, the pyramids look down upon the scene, as they have done each season for five thousand years. As the water retires, the rich loam dressing, brought down from the hills of Ethi- opia, is left spread over the fields, re- newing their won- derful fertility from year to year ; while the long soaking supplies moisture to the soil for the dry months to come. 10. The Inhabitants. — Egypt is far away from those places where the new manki^id must have originated. Barriers of desert and water separate it from the cradle lands of the human race. Second Cataraei POATES ENS. CO., 10] THE NILE 17 Yet our natural sources carry us back as far into the history of Egypt as is the case with any of the oldest nations of the world. For the period they cover they furnish more definite informa- tion. Very conservative Catholic historians allow the time of about 3200 b.c. but they do not find fault with those who think they can go as far as 5000 as the beginning of Egyptian his- tory. It is certainly safe to say that there lived a rather Photograph of a Modern Egyptian Woman sitting by a Sculptured Head of an Ancient King. — From Maspero's Daivn of Civilization. Notice the likeness of feature. The skulls of the modern peasants and of the ancient nobles are remarkably alike in form. highly civilized people on the banks of the Nile several thou- sand years before the coming of the Redeemer. The population of historical Egypt is said to have replaced an older one. It will probably never be found out by what route the first settlers reached Egypt, nor whether the Nile valley or rather the surrounding countries were inhabited first. Ethnologists say that there are points of relationship between the Egyptians and the Abyssinians, Arabs, Negroes, and other 18 EGYPT [§11 peoples. The historical Egy})tiaiis, at any rate, exhibit one type which has remained to the present day. They were evi- dently llaniites (See § 4), a sturdy race, and from their very first appearance in history well versed in many features of civilized life, including- the working of bronze. 11. Growth of a Kingdom. — Our sources do not give us any certain information as to the actual causes which brought about political unification annmg the small communities of the Nile valley. Hostile inroads of desert tribes may have' led to alliances of the petty chiefs or kings. Or one more powerful than his neighbors may have concpiercd a whole region. In fact the engravings on early monuments sliow the people of different villages waging bloody conflicts along the dikes or in rude boats on the canals. Voluntary agreements, no doubt were formed to carry out by cooperation projects of wider proportion than one little community could undertake; for instance to drain marslics, to create systems of canals and res- ervoirs for a more profitable distribution of the water of the Nile. For, to control the yearly overflow to the best advantage was certainly one of the most obvious common interests of all the people. And once a larger state was established, these evident benefits of unified action must have tended greatly to give it stability and permanence. Thus the Nile which had made the country played a part in making Egypt into one state. ^ At any rate, before history begins, the multitudes of villages had combined into about forty petty states. Each one ex- tended from side to side of the valley and a few miles up and down the river ; and each was ruled by a " king." In order to secure prompt action against enemies to the dikes, and to di- rect all the forces of the state at the necessary moment, the ruler had to have unlimited power. So these kings became 1 The word " state " is commonly used in history not in the sense in which we call Massachusetts a state, but rather in that sense in which we call Eng- land or the whole United States a state. That is, the word means a people, living in some definite place, zvifh a supreme government of its own. § 12] GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE 19 absolute despots, iiiid the mass of the people became little better than slaves. Then the same forces which had worked to unite villages into states tended to combine the many small states into a few larger ones. Memphis, in the lower valley, and Thebes, 350 miles farther up the river, were the greatest of many rival cities. Menen, prince of Memphis, united the petty principalities around hiui into the kingdom of Lower Boatmen fighting on tiik Nilk. — Egyptian rcliel';! Iroiu iMa.siK3ro. Egypt. In like manner Thebes became the capital of a king- dom of Upper J^gypt. About the year 3400 before Christ, the two kingdoms were united into one. Later Egyptians thought of Menes as the first king of the whole country. GOVERNMENT AND ]*E()PLE 12. Social Classes. — Tha king was worshiped as a god by the mass of the people. His title, Pharaoh, means The Great House, — as the title of government of Turkey in modern times has been the Sublime Porte (Gate). The title implies that the ruler was to be a refuge for his peoi)le. The pharaoh was the absolute owner of the soil. Probably the kings had taken most of it for their own from the first, in return for protecting it ))y their dikes and reservoirs. At all events, this ownership helped to make the pharaoh absolute master of the 1 A relief is a piece of sculpture in which the figures are only partly cut away from the solid rock. 20 EGYPT I§12 inhabitants, — though in practice his authority was somewhat limited by the power of the priests and by the necessity of keeping ambitious nobles friendly.^ Part of the land he kept in his own hands, to be cultivated by peasants under the direc- tion of royal stewards ; but the greater portion he parceled out among the nobles and temples. In return for the land granted to him, a noble was bound to pay certain amounts of produce, and to lead a certain number of soldiers to war. Within his domain, the noble was a petty monarch : he ex- ecuted justice, levied his own taxes, kept uj) his own army. Like the king, he held part of his land in his own hands, while other parts he let out to smaller nobles. These men were dependent upon him, much as he was dependent ui)on the king. About a third of the land was turned over by the king to the temples to support the worship of the gods. This land be- came the property of the priests. The priests were also the scholars of Egypt, and they took an active part in the govern- ment. Tlie pharaoh took most of his high officials from them, and their influence far exceeded that of the nobles. The peasants tilled the soil. They were not unlike the peasants of modern Egypt. They rented small "farms," — hardly more than garden plots, — for which they paid at least a third of the produce to the landlord. This left too little for a family ; and they eked out a livelihood by day labor on the land of the nobles and priests. Eor this work they were paid by a small part of the produce. The peasant, too, had to A Capital from Karnak. — P'roiu Liibke. 1 See Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 2. § 12] CLASSES OF PEOPLE 21 remain under the protection of some powerful landlord, or he might become the prey of any one whom he chanced to offend. Still, in quarrels with the rich, the poor were perhaps as safe as they have been in most countries. The oldest written "story" in the world (survivinu; in a papyrus of about 2700 u.c. ) gives an interesting illustration. A peasant, robbed through a legal trick by the favorite of a royal officer, appeals to the judges and finally to the king. The king commands redress, urging his officer to do justice "like a praiseworthy man praised by the praiseworthy." The passage in quotation marks shows that there was a strong public opinion against injustice. Probably such appeals by the poor were no more difficult to make than they were in Germany or France until a hundred years ago. And we have not yet learned how to give the poor man an absolutely equal chance with the rich in our law courts. In the towns there was a large middle class, — merchants, shopkeepers, physicians, lawyers,^ builders, artisans (§ 20). Below these were the unskilled laborers. This class was sometimes driven to a strike by hunger. Maspero, a famous French scholar in Egyptian history, makes the following statement {Struggle of the Nations^ 539): — "Rations were allowed each workman at the end of every month; but, from the usual Egyptian lack of forethought, these were often con- sumed long before the next assignment. Such an event was usually followed by a strike. On one occasion we are shown the workmen turn- ing to the overseer, saying : ' We are perishing of hunger, and there are still eighteen days before the next month.' The latter makes profuse promises ; but, when nothing comes of them, the workmen will not listen to him longer. They leave their work and gather in a public meeting. The overseer hastens after them, and the police commissioners of the locality and the scribes mingle with them, urging upon the leaders a return. But the workmen only say : ' We will not return. Make it clear to your superiors down below there.' The official who reports the matter to the authorities seems to think the complaints well founded, for he says, ' We went to hear them, and they spoke true words to us.' " Throughout Egyptian society, the son usually followed the father's occupation ; but there was no law (as in some Oriental countries) to prevent his passing into a different class. Some- 1 These were mainly notaries, — to draw up business papers, record trans- fers of property, and so on. 22 EGYPT 12 times the son of a poor herdsman rose to wealth and power. Such advance was most easily open to the scribes. This learned profession was recruited from the briglitest boys of the middle and lower classes. Most of the scribes found clerical work only; but from the ablest ones the nobles chose confidential secretaries and stewards, and some of these, who showed special ability, were pro- moted by the pharaohs to the highest dignities in the land. Such men founded new families and reinforced the ranks of the nobility. The soldiers formed an important profession. Campaigns were so deadly that it was hard to find soldiers enough. Ac- cordingly recruits were tempted by offers of special privileges. Each soldier held a farm of some eight acres/ free from taxes ; and he was kept under arms only when his services were needed. Besides this reg- ular soldiery, the peas- antry were called out upon occasion, for war or for garrisons. There was also a large body of officials, organized in many grades like the officers of an army. Every despotic government has to have such a class, to act as eyes, hands, and feet ; but Portrait Statue of Amtkn, a made" noble of 3200 b.c. self- 1 For Egypt this was a large farm. See page 20, 13] LIFE OP THE. PEOPLE 23 in ancient Egypt tlie royal servants were particularly numerous and important. Until the seventh century b.c. the Egyptians had no money. Thus the immense royal revenues, as well as all debts between private men, had to be collected "in kind." The tax-collectors and treasurers had to receive geese, ducks, cattle, grain, wine, oil, metals, jewels, — " all that the heavens Egyptian Noblp: hunting Waterfowl on the Nile witli the " throw- stick " (a hoomerans). The birds rise from a group of papyrus reeds. — Egyptian relief; after Maspero. give, all that the earth produces, all that the Kile brings from its mysterious sources," as one king puts it in an inscription. To do this called for an army of royal officials. For a like reason, the great nobles needed a large class of trustworthy servants. 13. Summary of Social Classes. — Thus, in Egyptian society, we have at the top an aristocracy, of several elements : (1) the nobles; (2) the powerful and learned ])riesthood, whose inr fluence almost equaled that of the pharaoh himself ; (3) scribes^ 24 EcnPT [§ 14 and physicians; (4) a i)rivilcge(l soldiery; and (5) a mass of privileged officials of many grades, from the greatest rulers next to the pharaoh, down to })etty tax collectors and the stew- ards of private estates. Ijower down there was tlte middle class, of shopkeepers and artisans, whose life ranged from comfort to a grinding misery; while at the base of society/ was n large mass of toilers on the land, weighted down by all the other classes. It is not strange that, in time, ni)per and lower classes came to differ in i)hysi('al appearance. The later monuments represent the nobles tall and lithe, with inii)erious bearing; while the laborer is jiictured heavy of feature and dumpy in build. 14. Life of the Wealthy. — For most of the well-to-do, life was a very delightful thing, tilled with active employment and varied with many pleasures.^ Their homes were roomy houses with a wooden frame plastered over with sun-dried clay. Light and air entered at the many latticed windows, where, however, curtains of brilliant hues shut out the occasional sand storms from the desert. About the house stretched a large garden with artificial fish-ponds gleaming among the palm trees. - 15. The Life of the Poor. — There were few slaves in Egypt ; but the condition of the great mass of the people fell little short of practical slavery. Toilers on the canals, and on the pyramids and other vast works that have made Egypt famous, were kept to their labor by the whip. " JNlan has a back," was a favorite Egyptian proverb. The numuments always picture the overseers with a stick, and often show it in use. The peojile thought of a beating as a natural incident in their daily work. The peasants did not live in the country, as our farmers do. They were crowded into the villages and poorer quarters of the 1 The studont who has access to TNIaspero's Dawn of Civilization (or to various other illustrated works on Early Eijypt) can make an interesting report upon these recreations from what he can see in the pictures from the nionunuMits. - A full description of a noble's house is given in Davis' lieadinif,'^, Vol. I, No. r.. ir>] lifp: op the poor 25 towns, with tlio other ])Oorpr classes. Many of tlicni lived in mud liovcis of oidy oiu^ room. Su(^h huts wvav. S(;])ai-at(Ml fj-om one another merely by one mud jnirtition, and were l)uilt in lon^ rows, fa(nn^ upon narrow (;rooked alleys filled with filth. Only the extremely di-y air k(^j)t down pestileiKu^s. Hours of Tkmi'lk at Luxok. toil were from dawn to dark. Taxes were exacted harshly, so that an Egyptian writer of about 1400 B.C. exclaims in pity: — " Dost thou not nu;all tlie ])ictur(! of the farmei-, whori the tenth of liis grain is levied ? Worms liave (hsstroyed half of tlie wlieat. There are swarms of rats in the fields ; the t^rasshoppers aliglit tliere ; the cattle devour ; the little l)irds pilfer; and if the farmer lose sl^^ht for an instant of what remains upon th(! j^round, it is (;arried off by robbers. It is then that the scribe steps out of the boat at the landing place, to levy the tithe, and there come the keepers of the doors of the granary/ with cudgels and the Negroes with ribs of palm-leaves [very effective whips], crying: ' Come now, corn ! ' Y(it other writei's blame an utter la(!k of provision on the ])art of many farmers for the occurrence of such scenes of distress. 26 EGYPT [§ 16 Still, judging from Egyptian literature, the peasants seem to have been careless and gay, petting the cattle and singing at their work. Probably they were as well off as the like class has been during the past century in Egypt or in Russia. 16. The position of women was better than it was to be in the Greek civilization, and much better than in modern Oriental countries. The poor man's wife spun and wove, and ground grain into meal in a stone bowl with another stone. Among the upper classes, the wife was the companion of the man. She was not shut up in a harem or confined strictly to household duties: she appeared in company and at public ceremonies. She possessed equal rights at law; and some- times great queens ruled upon the throne. In no other ancient country, except that of the Jews, do pictures of happy home life play so large a part. INDUSTRY AND LEARNING 17. The Irrigation System. — Before the year 2000 b.c, the Egyptians had learned to supplement the yearly overflow of the Nile by an elaborate irrigation system. Even earlier, they had built dikes to keep the floods from the towns and gardens ; and the care of these embankments remained a special duty of the government through all Egyptian history. But between 2400 and 2000 b.c. the pharaohs created a wonderful reservoir system. On the one hand, tens of thousands of acres of marsh were drained and made fit for rich cultivation : on the other hand, artificial lakes were built at various places, to collect and hold the surplus water of the yearly inundation. Then, by an intricate network of ditches and "gates " (much like the irrigation ditches of some of our western States to-day), the water was distributed during the dry months as it was needed. The government opened and closed the main ditches, as seemed best to it ; and its officers oversaw the more minute distribution of the water, by which each farm in the vast irrigated districts was given its share. Then, from the main ditch of each farm, the farmer himself carried the water in smaller water courses § 18] AGRICULTURE 27 to one part or another of his acres, — these small ditches gradually growing smaller and smaller, until, by moving a little mud with the foot, he could turn the water one way or another at his ^vill. Ground so cultivated was divided into square beds, surrounded by raised borders of earth, so that the water could be kept in or out of each bed. The most important single work of this system of irrigation was the artificial Lake Moeris (map, page 16). This was constructed by improv- ing a natural basin in the desert. To this depression, a canal was dug from the Nile through a gorge in the hills for a distance of eight miles. At the Nile side, a huge dam, with gates, made it possible to carry off through the canal the surplus water at flood periods. The canal was 30 feet deep and 160 feet wide ; and from the "lake," smaller canals distributed the water over a large district which had before been perfectly barren. This useful work was still in perfect condition two thousand years after its creation, and was praised highly by a Roman geographer who visited it then. So extensive were these irrigation works in very early times that more soil was cultivated, and more wealth produced, and a larger population maintained, than in any modern period until English control was established in the country a short time ago. Herodotus (§ 21) says that in his day Egypt had twenty thousand " towns " (villages). 18. Agriculture. — Wheat and barley had been introduced at an early time from the Euphrates region, and some less im- portant grains (like sesame) were also grown. Besides the grain, the chief food crops were beans, peas, lettuce, radishes, melons, cucumbers, and onions. Clover was raised for cattle, and flax for the linen cloth which was the main material for clothing.^ Grapes, too, were grown in great quantities, for the manufacture of a light wine. Herodotus says that seed was merely scattered broadcast on the moist soil as the water receded each November, and then trampled in by cattle and goats and pigs. But the pictures on 1 There was also some cotton raised, and the abundant flocks of sheep furnished wool. 28 EGYPT [§ 18 the moiuiinents show that, in parts of Egypt anyway, a light wooden plow was used to stir the ground. This plow was drawn by two cows. Even the large farms were treated almost like gardens ; and the yield was enormous, — reaching the rate of a hun- dred fold for grain. Long after her greatness had departed, Egypt remained "the granary of the Mediterranean Egyptian Plow. — After Rawlinson. lands" The various crops matured at different seasons, and so kept the farmer busy through most of the year. Besides the plow, his only tools were a short, crooked hoe (the use of wliich bent him almost double) and the sickle. The grain was cut with this last implement; then carried in baskets to a threshing floor, — and trodden out by cattle, which were driven round and round, while the drivers sang, — " Tread, tread, tread out the grain. Tread for yourselves, for yourselves. Measures for the master ; measures for yourselves." An Egyptian barnyard contained many animals familiar to us (cows, sheep, goats, scrawny pigs much like the wild hog, geese, ducks, and pigeons), and also a number of others like antelopes, gazelles, and storks. Some of these it proved im- possible to tame profitably. We must remember that men, though aided by original traditions, learned by experiment wliich animals could be domesticated both successfully and usefully. The hen was not known. Nor was the horse pres- ent in Egypt until a late period (§ 29) ; even then he was never common enough to use in agriculture or as a draft animal. During the flood periods cattle were fed in stalls upon clover and wheat straw. The monuments picture some exciting §19] TRADE 29 scenes when a rapid rise of the NiU^. forced the peasants to remove their flocks and herds hurriedly, through the surging waters, from usual grazing grounds to the hood-time quarters. Veal, mutton, and antelope flesh were the common meats of the rich. The poor lived mainly on vegetables and goats' milk. 19. Trade. — Until about G50 b.c, the Egyptians had no true money. For some centuries before that date, they had used I'iugs of gold and silver, to some extent, somewhat as we use money ; but these rings had no fixed weight, and had to be Market Scenk. — Egyptiau relief from the luunuments. placed on the scales each time they changed hands. During most of Egypt's three thousand 3^ears of greatness, indeed, ex- change in her market places was by barter. A peasant with wheat or onions to sell squatted by his basket, while would-be custouiers offered him earthenware, vases, fans, or other objects with which they had come to buy, but which perhaps he did not want. (The student will be interested in an admirable descrip- tion of a market scene in Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 7. The picture above, from an Egyptian monument, is one of those used as the basis of that account.) We hardly know whether to be most amazed at the wonder- ful progress of the Egyptians in some lines, or at their failure 30 EGYPT [§ 20 to invent money and an alphabet, when they needed those things so sorely and approached them so closely. In spite of this serions handicap, by 2000 p..<\ the Egyptians carried on extensive trade. One inscription of that period de- scribes a ship bringing from the coast of Arabia '' fragrant woods, heaps of myrrh, ebony and pure ivory, green gold, cin- namon, incense, cosmetics, apes, monkeys, dogs, and panther skins." Some of these things must have been gathered from distant parts of Eastern Asia. 20. The Industrial Arts. — The skilled artisans included brickworkers, weavers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, Shoemakers. — Egyptian relief Iroiii the monuments; from Maspero. upholsterers, glass blowers, potters, shoemakers, tailors, ar- morers, and almost as many other trades as are to be found among us to-day. In many of these occupations, the workers possessed a marvelous dexterity, and were masters of processes that are now nnknown. The weavers in particular produced delicate and exquisite linen, almost as fine as silk, and the workers in glass and gold and bronze were famous for their skill. Jewels were imitated in colored glass so artfully that only an expert to-day can detect the fraud by the appearance. Though iron was used by men long before the Deluge, it does not occur in the ruins of Egypt before 800 b.c. This useful metal evi- dently did not find its way into the Nile valley — Egypt has no mines — in sufficient quantity to allow of the formation of an iron workers' craft before that date. 21] INDUSTRY AND ART 31 21. The chief fine arts were architecture, sculpture, and painting. The Egyptian art, indeed, was the architecture of the temple and the tomb. The most famous Egyptian buildings are the pyramids. They were the tombs of kings.^ The skill shown in their con- struction implies a remarkable knowledge of mathematics and Sphinx and Pyiiamids. — From a photograph. (The human head of the sphinx is supposed to have the magnified features of a pharaoh. It is set upon the body of a lion, as a symbol of power.) of physics for such early times ; and their impressive massive- ness has always placed them among the wonders of the world. The most important pyramids stand upon a sandy plateau a little below the city of Memphis (map, p. 16). The largest, and one of the oldest, is known as the Great Pyramid. It is thought to have been built by King Cheops more than 3000 years before Christ, and it is by far the largest and most massive 1 Other prominent persons erected Mastahas, i.e. flat-topped piles or chapels of massive stones. 32 EGYPT [§21 building in the world. Its base covers thirteen acres, and it rises 481 feet from the plain. More than two million huge stone blocks went to make it, — more stone than has gone into any- other building in the world. Some single blocks weigh over fifty tons ; but the edges of the blocks that form the faces are Mean Sea Lewi 7 SCALE OF FEET -4Mcan Sea Level- Vkktical Section of the Great Pyramid, looking West, sliowinj passages. A Entrance passage. B A lator opening^. D First ascending passage, E Horizontal passage. F Queen's chamber. G G Grand gallery. II Antechamber. I Coffer. K King's chamber. M N Ventilating chambers. Subterranean chamber. P Well, so called. R K R Probable e.vtent to which the native rock is employed to assist the masonry of the building. so polished, and so nicely fitted, that the joints can hardly be detected ; wliile the interior chambers, and long, sloping pas- sages between them, are built with such skill that, notwith- standing the immense weight above them, there has been no perceptible settling of the walls in the lapse of five thousand years. §21] INDUSTRY AND ART 33 Herodotus, a Greek historian of the fifth century n.c, traveled in Ei^ypt and learned all that the priests of his day could tell liini regarding these wonders. He tells us that it took thirty years to build the Great Pyramid, — ten of those years going to piling the vast mounds of earth, up which the mighty stones were to be dragged into place, —which mounds had afterwards to be removed. During that thirty years, relays of a hun- dred thousand men were kept at the toil, each relay for three months at a stretch. Other thousands, of course, had to toil through a lifetime of labor to feed these workers on a monument to a monarch's vanity. All the labor was performed by mere human strength: the Egyptians of that day had no beasts of burden, and no machinery, such as we have, for movhig great weights with ease. The pyramids were the work of an early line of kings, soon after the time of Menes. Later monarchs were content with smaller resting places for their own bodies,^ and built instead gigantic temples for the gods. In their private dwellings the Egyptians sometimes used graceful colnmns and the true arch^ but for their temples they preferred massive walls and rows of huge, close-set columns, supporting roofs of immense flat slabs of rock. The result gives an impression of stupendous power, but it lacks grace and beauty. On the walls of the temples and within the tombs we find the inscriptions and the papyrus rolls that tell us of ancient Egyp- tian life. With the inscriptions there are found long bands of pictures (" reliefs '') cut into the walls, illustrating the story. There are found also many full statues, large and small. Much of the early scul})ture was lifelike ; and even the unnatural colossal statues, such as the Sphinxes, have a gloomy grandeur in keeping with the melancholy desert that stretches about them. Later sculpture has less character and less finish. The painting lasted in the closed rock tombs with perfect freshness, but it fades quickly upon exposure to the air. The painters used color well, but they did not draw correct forms. Like the "relief" sculptures, the painting lacked perspective and proportion. 1 Often, however, they used the old pyramids, already constructed, for their tombs, sometimes casting out the mummy of a predecessor. 34 EGYPT [§22 22. Literature and the Hieroglyphs. — The Egyptians wrote religious books, poems, histories, travels, novels, orations, trea- tises upon morals, scientific works, geographies, cook-books, Ra-Hotep, a noble of about 3200 u.r. Princess Nefert, a portrait statue Perhaps the oldest portrait statue in 5000 j^ears old. Now in the Cairo the world. Now in the Cairo Museum. Museum. catalogues, and collections of fairy stories, — among the last a tale of an Egyptian Cinderella, with her fairy glass slipper. On the first monuments, writing had advanced from mere 22] LITERATURE AND LEARNING 35 pictures to a rebus stage (cf. § 3 e). This early writing was used mainly by the priests in connection with the worship of the gods, and so the characters were called hierogly2)hs(" priest's writing "). The pictures, though shrunken, compose " a delight- ful assemblage of birds, snakes, men, tools, stars, and beasts." Some of these signs grew into real letters, or signs of single Temple at Edfu, a village between Thebes and the First Cataract. This is one of the best preserved Egyptian temples, and the finest example of ancient Egyptian religious buildings. It was begun by Ptolemy III in 237 B.C. (See pictures on pages 20, 25, 276. Note the difference in the capitals.) sounds. If the Egyjjtians could have kept these last and have dropped all the rest, they would have had a true alphabet. But this final step they never took. Their writing remained to the last a curious mixture of tliousands of signs of things, of ideas, of syllables, and of a few single sounds.^ This was what made the position of the scribes so honorable and profitable. To master such a system of writing required long schooling, 1 A good account of the hieroglyphs is given in Keary's Dawn of Histonj, 298-303. Another may be found in Maspero's Dawn of Civilization, 221-224, and there is a pleasant longer account in Clodd's Story of the Alphabet. 36 EGYPT [§23 and any one who could write was sure of well-paid employ- ment. When these characters were formed rapidly upon papyrus or pottery (instead of upon stone), the strokes were run to- gether, and the char- acters were gradually modified into a run- ning script, which was written with a reed in black or red ink. The dry air of the Egyj^tian tombs has preserved to our day great numbers of bulled ])a]>yrus rolls, 23. Science. — The Nile has been called the father of Egyp- tian science. The frequent need of sur- veying the land after an inundation had to do with the skill of the early Egyptians in geometry. The need of fixing in ad- vance the exact time of the inundation di- rected attention to the true "3'ear,'' and so to astronomy. Great progress was made in both these studies. AVe moderns, who learn glibly from books and diagrams the results of this early labor, can hardly understand how difficult was the task of these first scientific observers. Relikf fudm thk Tkmple of Hathou (jjoddess of tho sky ami of love), at Deiuleia. 28 miles north of Thebes. This temple belonj^s to a late period. Notice the "conventionalized " wings, and the royal "oartonches." In Egyptian in- scriptions, the name of a king is snrrounded by a line, as in the npper right-hand corner of this relief. Such a figure is called a "cartouch." See the Rosetta stone, on page 12. §24] LITERATURE AND LEARNING 37 Uncivilized peoples count time by " moons " or by " winters " ; but to fix the exact length of the year (the time in which the sun apparently passes from a given point in the heavens, through its path, back again to that point) reciuires i)atient and skillful observation, and no little knowl- edge. Indeed, to find out that there is such a thing as a "year" is no simple matter. If the student will go out into the night, and look upon the heavens, with its myriads of twinkling points of light, and then try to imagine how the first scientists learned to map out the paths of the heavenly bodies, he will better appreciate their work. Long before the unification of the kingdom, the Egyptians counted by years. Later on they fixed the year at 305} days and invented a leap year arrang(;nient. Their "year," together with their calendar of months, we get from them througli -Iiilius Caesar (improved, in 1582, by Pope Gregory XIll). In arithmetic the Egyptians dealt readily in numbers to millions, with the aid of a notation similar to that used later by the Romans. Thus, 3423 was represented l)y the Romans : M M M C C C C XX III and by the Egyptians : $J$@@®(5RI' All this learning is older than the Greek by almost twice as long a time as the Greek is older than ours of to-day. No wonder, then, that (according to a Greek story) in the last days of Egyptian greatness, a j)riest of Sai's exclaimed to a traveler from little Athens : " Solon, Solon ! You Greeks are mere children. There is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any scien(;e hoary witli age ! " (§ 140.) It must be remembered, however, that this science was the possession only of the })riests, and j)('rha])S of a few others. 24. Religion. — It is not impossible that some of the first settlers in the Nile valley had already lost the idea of one (xod. The Egyptians, however, undoubtedly admitted the depend- ency of man on superior beings. Rut there existed, especially among the common people, a curious mixture of religions. Each family worshiped its ancestors. Beasts also, such as cats, dogs, bulls, crocodiles, were sacred. To injure one of these " gods," even by accident, was to incur the fury of the people. Probably this worship was a degraded kind of ancestor wor- 38 EGYPT 34 ship known as totemism, which is found among many peoples. North American Indians of a wolf clan or a bear clan — with a fabled wolf or bear for an ancestor — must on no account injure the ancestral animal, or " totem." i In Egypt, however, the worship of animals became more widely spread, and took on grosser features than has ever been the case elsewhere. Above all this, there was a worship of countless deities and demigods representing sun, moon, river, wind, storm, trees, and stones. Each town had its special god to protect it ; and the gods of the capi- tals became national deities. Among the more educated classes many had a higher and purer concept of God. Some passages in their books speak in a language which closely resembles and in some iso- lated cases equals the words of the Bible. This is espe- cially so about 1500 b.c, the time when the Israelites Avere in Egypt. " God," say some of the inscriptions, " is a spirit; no man knoweth his reator of the heavens and the st)U, lIoRUs, I he risiuii' sun. her form," and again, " He is the earth and all that is therein." The substance of such truUis was no doubt inherited, but they were not at all times exjn-essed with equal clearness. In the later centuries the gross popular beliefs alone remained. The following hymn to Aten (the Sundisk), symbol of Light and Life, was written by an Egyptian king of the fifteenth century b.c. Some of its lines seem to indicate that it is addressed to the true creator of the world. 1 Cooper's Last of the Mohicans contains an illustration of totemism. §25] RELIGION AND MORALS 39 " Thy appearing is beautiful in tlie horizon of heaven, O living Aten, the beginning of life ! . . . Thy beams encompass all lands w^hich thou hast made. Thou bindest them with thy love. . . . The birds fly in their haunts — Their wings adoring thee. . . . How many are the things which thou hast made ! Thou Greatest the land by thy will, thou alone, With peoples, herds, and flocks. . . . Thou givest to every man his place, thou framest his life.'' 25. The idea of a future life. From the earliest times the Egyptians believed that man is survived in death by a certain principle of life corresponding to what we call the soul. But Sculptured Funkrau Couch: the soul is represented crouching by the mummy. — From Maspero. this idea was very much obscured. They generally thought that either the body remains the home of the soul, or at least that the soul lives on in a pale shadowy existence near the tomb.^ If the body be not preserved, or if it be not given proper burial, then, it was thought, the soul becomes a wan- dering ghost, restless and harmful to men. The universal 1 The poor endeavored to give their dead a resting place which at least was not reached by the waters of the Nile. 40 EGYPT PTT.TTTMrafi Egyptian practice of ciubaliniiigi the body before burial was connected with it. They wished to preserve the body as the home for the souh In the early tombs, too, there are always found dishes in which had been placed food and drink, which were in later times replaced by painted food. These prac- tices continued through all ancient Egyptian history. There existed however, especially among the liigher classes, the con- viction of a truer immor- tality for those who de- served it. After death the soul had to undergo a severe trial by forty-two '\iudges of the dead." If found guiltless it entered a kind of heaven, where it enjoyed all the pleas- ures of life without any pain. The other souls might be obliged to re- turn to the world for a second probation, or they would finally perish. Unfortunately this imperfect idea of a future retribution was very much weakened by the rankest superstition. The people thought that certain formulas or articles would serve to deceive the judges. But even so it could not fail to exercise a great and wholesome influence upon the moral conduct of men. The followinc; noble extract comes from the " Repudiation of Sins." This was a statement which tlie Egyptian believed he ought to be able to 1 "Embalming" is a process of prepariug a dead body with drugs and spices, so as to prevent decay. A ToiNIB PAINTINt; . sliowing ot't'oriiigs to the dead. 25] RELIC TON AND MORALS 41 say truthfully before the "Judges of the Dead." It shows a keen sense of duty to one's fellow men, which would be highly honorable to any religion. " Hail unto you, ye lords of Truth ! hail to thee, great god, lord of Truth and Justice ! . . . I have not committed iniquity against men 1 I have not oppressed the poor ! . . . I have not laid labor upon any free man beyond that which he wrought for himself ! . . . I have not caused the slave to be ill-treated of his master ! I have not starved any man, I have not made any to weep, ... / have not pulled dmvn the scale of the Weighing thk Soul in the scales of truth Ix^fo re the itjods of the dead. — Egyptian relief; after Maspero. (The figures with animal heads are gods and th(!ir messengers. The human forms represent the dead who are being led to judgment.) balance! I have not falsified the beam of the balance! I have not taken away the milk from the mouths of sucklings. . . . " Grant that he may come unto you — he that hath not lied nor borne false witness, . . . he that hath given bread to the hungry and drink to him that was athirst, and that hath clothed the naked with garments.'''' Some other declarations in this statement run : " I have not blas- phemed ; " "I have not stolen;" "I have not slain any man treacher- ously;" "I have not made false accusation;" "I have not eaten my heart with envy." These five contain the substance of half of the Ten Commandments, — hundreds of years before Moses gave to the Children of Israel by divine inspiration that admirably worded code of the natural law. 42 EGYPT [§ 27 26. Moral Character. — The ideal of character, indicated above, is contained in many other Egyptian inscriptions. Thus, some three thousand years before Christ, a noble declares in his epitaph : " I have caused no child of tender years to mourn ; I have despoiled no widow ; I have driven away no toiler of the soil [who asked for help] . . . None about me have been unfortunate or starving in my time." ^ Of course, like other people, the Egyptian fell short of his ideal. On the other hand, it is not fair to expect him to come up to our modern standard in all ways. The modesty and refinement which we value were lacking among the Egyptians ; but they were a kindly people. The sympathy expressed by their writers for the poor (§ 15) is a note not often heard in ancient literature. Scholars agree in giving the Egyptians high praise as " more moral, sym- pathetic, and conscientious than any other ancient people," with exception of course of the Hebrews and most probably the Persians. Professor Petrie sums up the matter thus : " The Egyptian, without our C'liristian sense of sin or self-reproach, sought out a fair and noble life. . . . His aim was to be an easy, good-natured, quiet gentleman, and to make life as agreeable as he could to all about him." THE STORY 27. The Old and Middle Kingdoms. — It is convenient to mark off seven periods in the history of Egypt (§§ 27-33). For more than a thousand years after Menes (3400-2400 b.c), the capital remained at IMemphis in Lower Egypt. This period is known as the Old Kingdom. It is marked by the complete consolida- tion of the country under the pharaohs, by the building of the pyramids and sphinxes, and by the rapid development of the civilization which Ave have been studying. The only names we care much for in this age are Menes and Cheops (§ 21). 28. The Middle Kingdom. — Toward 2400 b.c, the power of the pharaohs declined ; but the glory of the monarchy was re- ^ The same ideas of duty are set forth more at leugth iu extracts given iu Davis' Readings, Vol. I, Nos. J) and 10. 28] THE POLITICAL STORY 43 stored by a new line of kings at T/u^hes in the upper valley. Probably this was the result of civil war between Upper and Lower Egypt. The Theban line of pharaohs are known as the Middle Kingdom. Their rule lasted some four hundred years (2400-2000 B.C.), and makes the second period. The two features of this period are foreign conquest and a new develop- ment of resources at home. Ethiopia, on the south, was subdued, with many Negro tribes ; and parts of Syria were conquered ; but the chief glory of this age, and of all Egyptian history, was the develop- ment of the marvelous system of irrigation that has been described in § 17 above. The pharaohs of this period, in happy con- trast with the vain and cruel pyramid-builders, cared most to encourage trade, explore unknown regions, improve roads, establish wells and reser- voirs, A king of 2200 b.c. boasts in his epitaph — probably with reason — that all his commands had subjects toward him. Cheops (more properly called Khufu), builder of the Great Pyramid : a portrait- statue discovered in 19()2 by Flinders Petrie. As Professor Petrie says, "The first thing that strikes us is the enormous driving power of the man." ever increased the love" of his Egyptian commerce now reached to Crete on the north, and probably to other islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and to distant parts of Ethiopia on the south. One of the greatest works of the time was the opening of a canal from a mouth of the Nile to the Red Sea, so that ships might pass from that sea to the Mediterranean. This gave a great impulse to trade with Arabia (§ 19). 44 EGYPT 29 29. The Hyksos. — This outburst of glory was followed by a strange decay (2000-1000 n.c. — the " third period "), during which Egypt became tlie prey of roving tribes from Arabia. From the title of their chiefs, these conquerors were called Ilyksos, or Shejjhercl Kings. They maintained themselves in Egypt about two hundred years. For a time they harried the land cruelly, as invaders; then, from a capital in the lower Delta, they ruled tlie country through tributary Egyptian Sculptors at work on colossal fii;ures. — From an Eijyptian relief. kings ; and finally they acquired the civilization of the country and became themselves Egyptian sovereigns. It was this Arabian conquest that first brought the horse into Egypt (§ 18). After this period, kings and nobles are represented in war chariots and in pleasure carriages. 30. The New Empire. — A line of native monarchs had re- mained in power at Thebes, as under-kings. About IGOO b.c, after a long struggle, tliese princes expelled the Hyksos. Dur- ing this " fourth period," 1G00-1330, Egypt reached its highest pitch of military grandeur. The long struggle with the Hyksos had turned the attention of the people from industry to war ; and the horse made long marches easier for the leaders. A series of mighty kings recovered Ethiopia, conquered all western Syria, and at last reached the Euphrates, ruling for a brief time even over Babylonia. 30] THE POLITICAL STORY 45 Here, on the banks of a mighty river, strangely like their own Nile, they found the home of another civilization, equal to their own, but different. For some thousand years, these two early civilizations had been existing without much intercom- munication with each other ^ (§ 19). Now a new era opened^ The long ages of isolation gave way to an age of intercourse.^ 1 The Egyptians did know something of the Euphrates culture, because it had, long before, extended into Syria (§ 38), which Egyptian armies and traders had visited occasionally, for some centuries ; but now first they saw it in its full magnificence. 2 Egypt did not admit foreigners into her own Nile district, except the official representatives of other governments. But the Syrian lands were the middle ground where the two civilizations held intercourse. 46 EGYPT [§31 The vast districts between the Euphrates and the Nile became covered with a network of roads. Tliese were garrisoned here and there by fortresses ; and over them, for centuries, there passed hurrying streams of officials, couriers, and merchants. The brief supremacy of Egypt over the Euphrates district was also the frst political toiion of the Orient. In some degree it paved the way for tlie greater empires to follow, — of Assyria, of Persia, of Alexander, and of Rome. The most famous Egyptian rulers of this age are TJnltmosis^ in, and Jiameses 11. The student will iind interest- ing passages about both these monarchs in Davis' Headings, Vol. I. 31. Decline. — A long age of Aveakness (the "fifth period," about 13o0-()40) soon invited attack. The priests had drawn into their hands a large part of the land of Egypt. This land paid no taxes, and the pharaohs felt obliged to tax more heavily the already over- burdened peasantry. Population declined; revenues fell off. Early in this period of decline, the Hebrews emigrated from Egypt- 'J-'lieir ancestors had come from Syria during the rule of the Arabian Hyksos, who were friendly to them. In Egypt they grew into a populous nation, but the great mon- archs of the New Em})ire reduced them to serfdom. They now left Egypt to settle in the " promised land " (§ 59). The government was no longer strong enough in armies for the defense of the frontiers. Dominion in both Africa and SOULPTUKKD HkAD OK I'ur'TIMDSIS III (about 1470 B.C.), who in twelve jji-eat cani[)aiuiis tii*st carried Ejjyptian arms from the isthmus to Nineveh. 1 All difficult proper uames have the prouuuciatiou shown m the index. 32] THE POLITICAL STORY 47 Asia shrank, until Egypt was driven back within her ancient bounds. The Hittites (§ 7), descending from the slopes of the Taurus Mountains (map, page 45), overthrew Egyptian power in Syria ; and the tribes of the Sahara, aided by '' strange peoples of the sea" (Greeks among them), threatened to seize even the Delta itself. In 730 B.C. the Ethiopians overran the country ; and, in 672, Egypt Jinally he- came subject to Assyria (§ 40). Dates are not fixed exactly in Egyptian history until about this time. For all earlier periods, a margin of a century or two must be al- lowed for errors in calculation. This vagueness is due to the fact that ancient peoples did not reckon historical or political periods from a com- mon fixed point of time as we do: instead, they reckoned from the building of a city, or from the beginning of the reigns of their kings. An in- scription may tell us that a certain event took place in the tenth year of the reign of Rameses ; but we do not know positively in just what year Rameses began to reign. 32. The Sixth Period, 653-525. — After twenty years of Assyrian rule, Psammetichus restored Egyptian independence and became the pharaoh. He had been a military adventurer, apparently of foreign blood; and had been employed by the Assyrians as a tributary prince. During her former greatness, although her own traders visited other lands, Egypt had kept herself jealously closed against strangers. But Psammetichus threw open the doors to foreigners. In particular, he welcomed 1 ()() u.c. lie was i^reatly interested in reviving;- the old P\^ TSAIMIM lOIIC I*],L;yi)tian commeree. His ellorts to restore Egyptian inilueiu'(r in Syria and Ara- bia were I'oih'd by the rise ot a new empire in the l^ai- phra.tes valley TJ) ; and lu^ failed also in a nobler attempt t.o reopen the ani'ient. ciinal connecting the Red Sea with th(^ M(Hliterranean (§ L\S). [Jut, in searching for another route for vessids between those \vat»Ms, he did succeed in a re- markable att(Mupt. OiK' of fit's ships saih'd uroutnl Africa, starting from the lu>d Sea and returning, three years later, by th(^ INhuliterranean. ilei-odotus (ij LM), who ttdls us the story, adils : "On their return tiie sailors n^poi'ted (others may be- lievi^ tluMu but, I will not) that in sailing from east to west around Africa th(\y had the siin on their right hand." This report, which ilei-odotus could not. believe, is good proof to us that, the story of the sailors was true. 33. Egyptian History merges in Greek and Roman History. — Tlu^ last age of 1^'gyptian independence lasted only lL\S years. TluMi followed the "seventh ]>erio(l," — one of long dependence upon foreign i)owers. Persia, concpiered the conntry in 525 ii.c. (^ 72), and ruled it for two centnries under Persian governors. Then Alexander the (Jreat establisluMl (Jreek sway over all the Persian world (§§ 27S If.). At his death l*'gyi)r. became again a y.V.\\ TUK POLITK^AL STORY 49 separate state; but it was ruled by tlie Greek Ptolerrties from their new Greek cajntal at Alexandria, ('leopatra, the last of this line of monarehs, fell before Augustus Caesar in 'M) n.c., and Egypt became a Roman province. Native rule has never been restored. KxKitciHKH. — 1. Make a Huniinary of Mk; tliin J \ Ml I) 1 y V bW^^^^ ''^;x ^\ ^'^m. 'ARABIA Babylonian Empire, 1900 n.C. Assyrian Kinplre, 070 B.C. incliiding: uUo old liahylonlan Knipire SCALE OF MILES 100 200 "iSo iSo of the Assyrians. Sargon's son, Sennacherib, is the most famous Assyrian monarch. He attacked the king of Judah,^ 1 The Bible attributes the conquest of the Ten Tribes to Salmanassar (Shalmanezer), Sargon's predecessor, under whom the siege of Israel's capital, Samaria, was begun. As to the difference in the spelling of oriental names by Catholics and Protestants see Pope, The Catholic Student's Aid to the Bible, p. 418 ff. 2 Kings xix, 20-37. For the Assyrian story see Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 12. 50 TIIK TKJKIS EUPHRATES STATES [§41 hut \w will be better rcimMiibonMl from the lUhlc account t)f a mysterious (lestruction of his army, perhaps in another ex- pedition, — smitten by '' tlu' angel of tlu' Lord." This is the incident eonuneniorated by Byron's lines: — "Tho Assyrian c:\u\v down like a wolf on thi> fold, And his cohorts wen' ulcaniini:; with nurjilt' and ,i;old. Like loavos of the forest when autiunn hath blown, That host, on the morrow, lay withered and strown." The emj)ire rt^covered cpiitdvly from this disaster; and in Cu'2 K.e. Senn:udierib's son, I'Jsar/i!). 7V//.S' (Vds the second jtoh'tieal union of the I'Jo.st. It was nuudi more (H)mplett> than the tirst one of si'veral centuries earli(>r (vj ,'>()) ; and the territory was lar^^er, for the Assyrians were reaidiinj;- out west^ and east into the lu'W rei^ions of Asia Minor aiul of Media on the Plateau of Iran. 41. Fall of Assyria, — This wide rule was short-lived, — liappily so, for no other great empire has ever so delighted in blood. Disagreeable as it is, the stiulent should read one of the records in whiidi an Assyrian king exnlts over his fiendish cruelties. The following one is by Assur-Natsir-Pul, 850 n.c. : — "They diil not embraee my feet. With cmnbat and with slaughter I attaeked the eity and captured it ; three thousand of their lighting men I sU>w with the sword. ThiMV spoil, tlieir goods, their oxen, and their sheep 1 carried away. Tlie numcnnis captives I burned with lire. I cap- tured many of tlie soldiers alive. 1 cut otT the hands and feet of some ; 1 ctU oft' the noses, the eaiv, and the lingers of others ; the eyes of the numerous soldiers 1 put out. I built up a pyramid of the living and a iwranud of heads. In the middle of them I suspendef them I imnuired in the midst of the pyramid ; others above the pyranud 1 impaled on stakes ; others rounil about the pyramid I planted on stakes.'' See also Sennacherib's boast, at the close oi No, 12 in l^avis' Ixradings, Vol. I. §42] TlIK ASSYRIAN EMPIRE 57 A<];,iinst such CTuelty and against the crushing Assyrian taxation, there rankled a passionate hatred in the hearts of the oi)|)r(^sscd j)e()|)h^s.^ After twenty years of subjection, Egy[)t broke away. Twenty years later, I>abylon follow(Ml. Scythian liordes poured in repeatedly from the nortli, to dc^vastate the eni])irc; and in (>()() the new ])ower of the McaIch (§ 72), aided by liabylonia, ('a))tur(!d Nineveh itself. Tlu^ Assyriiin Knipire disaj)|)(!ar(Ml, and Uk; j)roud " (;ity of blood," which had razcid so many otliei- citi(!s, was given over to sack and pillage. Two hundnnl years later tlie ({r(H!k Xenophon could not (iven learn the name of the crumbling ruins, wIjcu he came upon them, in the " Retreat of the Ten Thousand" (§ 257). All signs of human habitation vanished, and tluj very site was forgotten, until its rediscovery in recent times. Ancient and modern judgments u])on Assyria are at one. Nahum closed his passionate exultation, — " All that hear the news of thy fate shall clap their hands over thee; for whom hath not thy wi(;kedness attticted continually." And says Dr. Davis (Introduction to No. 14 of his Readimja, Vol. I): "Its luxuri(!S aiul retincunents were all borrowed from other lands: its insatiable love of <',on(pu^st and slaught(u- was its own." 42. The New Babylonian Empire. — IJabylon had risen in many a iiercc; riivolt during the live; centuri(;s of Assyrian rule. Sennacherib declan^s, with great exaggeration certainly, that on one occasion he razed it to tlie ground in punishment: "I laid the hous(!S waste from foundation to roof with fire. Temple and tower I tore down and thn^w into the canal. I dug ditches through the city, and laid waste its site. Greater than the deluge was its annihilation." 1 n ()2r> came a successful rebellion. Tluui (as noticed in § 41 ) Babylonia and Media soon shared between them the old Assyr- ian Empire. The Second r>abylonian Empire lasted less than a century. The middle half of the period — the most glorious iThe student should read the terrible denunciation of Nineveh by the Hol)n;w jjroph.^t in the year of its fall (Book of Nahum, iii, I-ID). Cf. also Isaias xiii, lG-'22, and Jereuiias 1 and li. r)S TlIK TKUUS Kl'IMlliA'PKS STATES [§43 part, (KM -^dl n.c. I'mIIs to the rci^ii of XiibuclKxlonosoi'. The reviviiitJj K^"y})li;Mi jjowcr, uiuUm- Ncco, \v:is c^hockod in its effort to exteml its swav into Asia (v? .'>L*). Rebellious .lerusalem was sacked, aiul the flews were carried away into the Babylonian eaptivity. The aiu'ient. limits of tlu> l^'irst Knipire were rest.onul, with some additions. Babylon was rebuilt on a more ma,uniiieent seale, and the anei(Mit engineer- ing works were re- newed.^ But in 538, soon after this reij]^n, Babylon ftdl bcl'ore the rising- [>ower of the Persians (§ 72). and her independent history eanie to ;ui end. T>Hr>TtTt^ Yfi=^T»^^ N \iu'c SOCMF/rV, INDl'STKY, (M'l/rUKE 43. The king was surroundtvl with t>very thing that eonld awe and (diarm the masses, f'xt raordinary niagnitioenee and splendor removed him from the eommon ])e()ple. lie gave au- dience, seated on ;i golden throne covered with a purple canopy which was supported by pillars glittiM'ing with [)recions stones. All who came into his presence prostrateil themselves in the dust until bidden to rise. 1 lis ruh^ was absolute ; but he worked through a. large body o\' trusti'd otlicials, largtdy taken from the priests. 44. Classes of Society. --( 'hah h»a had no class like the nobles of I'igypt. Wealth counted tor nu)re. and birth lor less, than in that country. Ther(> were really oidy two tdasses, — rich and poor, with a. mass o\' slaves. The }}ea(ia)its tilled tht^ rich land in misery. As in l^'gyi)t they paid for tlu'ir holdings with half of the produce. In a poor y(\ir, this lel"t> them in ilebt lV>r seed and living. The creditor could charge exorbitant interest; and, if not paid, he eouhl levy not only u]H)n tlu* debtor's small goods, but also npon wift» or I'hild, or uin^n the person of the farmer himself, for 1 Neburh;ulno/./;u's dwii iU'i-ount is given in Davis' Eeadings, Vol. I, No. 13. §44] SOCIETY AND (MILT I IKK 59 sliivt;ry. As early as tlu! iinic, of J laiiiinurabi (§§ 39, 45), liow- ever, the law ordered that siieli slav(U'y should last only three years. The vicallhy dass included hii)(h)wners, ofiicials, })rofessional men, monc^y lenders, and merchants. The merchant in partic- ular was a proniinc'nt figure. The j)osition (jf (Jhahhja, at the Colossal Man-ukast in Alahastkr. — From the Palace of SaiK'»'i (now in the Louvre). head of the Persian Gulf, made; its cities tlie natural mart of exchange between India and Syria ; and for centuries, Babylon was the great commercial center of the ancient world, far more truly than London has been of our modern worhl. Even the extensive wars of Assyria, cruel as they were, were not merely for love of conquest : they were largely commercial in purposCy — to secure the trade of Syria and Phoenicia, and to ruin in 60 THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES STATES [§45 those lands the trade centers ^ that were competing with Nineveh. 45. Law and Property. — In 1902 a.d., a French explorer found a valuable set of Babylonian inscriptions containing a collection of 280 laws. This ''code" asserts that it was enacted by Haninuirabi (§ 39). It is the oldest known code of laws in the world; and it shows that the men for whom it was made were already far advanced in civilization, with many Assyrian Contract Tablet in Duplicate. — The outer tablet is broken and shows part of the inner original, which fouUl always be consulted if the outside was thought to have been tampered with. complex relations with one another. It tries to guard against bribery of judges and witnesses, against careless medical practice, against ignorant or dishonest building contractors. (About a tenth of the code is reproduced in Davis' Eeadhi(fs, Vol. I, No. 20.) Other discoveries prove that rights of property were carefully guarded. Deeds, wills, marriage settlements, legal contracts of all kinds, survive by tens of thousands. The numerous signatures of witnesses, in a variety of " hand writings,'' testify to a widespread ability to write the difficult cuneiform text. 1 Damascus, Jerusalem, Tyre, and others whose names have less meaning to us to-day. Tyre, often besieged and reduced to a tributary state, was not actually captured, owing to her mastery of the sea. §47] SOCIETY AND CULTURE 61 From the contracts we learn that a woman could control property and carry on business independently of her husband. 46. Law and Men. — Criminal law is the term applied to that portion of a code which relates, not to property, but to the personal relations of men to one another. Here the code Assyrian Taklets, showing the; older hieroglyphics and the later cuneiform equivalents (apparently for the purpose of instruction). of Hammurabi in many provisions reminds us of the stern Jewish law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. " If a man has caused a man of rank to lose an eye, one of his own eyes must be struck out. If he has shattered the limb of a man of rank, let his own limb be broken. If he has knocked out the tooth of a man of rank, his tooth must be knocked out," Injuries to a poor man, however, could be atoned for in money. " If he has caused a poor man to lose an eye, or has shattered a limb, let him pay one maneh of silver " (about $32.00 in our values). 47. Cuneiform Writing. — The early inhabitants of Chaldea had a system of hieroglyphs not unlike the Egyptian. At first they painted these on the papyrus, which grew in the Euphrates as well as in the Nile. At a later time they came to press the 62 THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES STATES [§48 characters with a sharp metal instrument into clay tablets (which were then baked to preserve them). This change of material led to a change in the written characters. The pic- tures shriveled and flattened into wedge-shaped symbols, which look like scattered nails with curiously battered heads. (This writing is called cuneiform, from the Latin cioieus, wedge.) The Semitic conquerors adopted this writing and used it in such minute characters — six lines to an inch sometimes — that some authorities believe magnifying glasses nnist have been used. This surmise was strengthened wlien the explorer Laj^ard found a lens among the ruins of the Nineveh library. 48. Literature. — The remains of Chaldean literature are abundant. Each of the numerous cities that studded the valley of the twin rivers had its library, sometimes several of them. A library was a collection of clay tablets or bricks covered witli cuneiform writing. In Babylon the ruins of one library con- tained over thirty thousand tablets, of about the date 2700 b.c, all neatly arranged in order. Originally the libraries contained papyrus rolls also, but these the climate has utterly destroyed. A tablet, with its condensed writing, corresponds fairly well to a chapter in one of our books. Each tablet had its library number stamped upon it, and the collections were carefully catalogued. The kings prided themselves on keeping libraries open to the public ; and Professor Sayce is sure that " a con- siderable portion of the inhabitants (including many women) could read and write.'- ^ The literary class studied the '' dead -' language of the pre- Semitic period, as we study Latin; and the merchants were obliged to know the languages spoken in Syria in that day. The libraries contained dictionaries and grammars of these languages, and also many translations of foreign books, in columns parallel with the originals. Scribes were constantly employed in copying and editing ancient texts, and they seem 1 The evidence he collects in his Social Life among the Babylonians, 41-43. " The ancient civilized East was almost as full of literary activity as is the world of to-day," adds the same eminent scholar, in an extreme statement. 48] SOCIETY AND CULTURE 63 An AssYKiAN "Book." — All octaiiou Assyrian brick, now in the British Museum ; alter Sayce. This represeutatiou is about oue third the real size. 64 THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES STATES [§ 49 to have been very careful in their work : when they couki not make out a word in an ancient copy, they tell us so and leave the space blank. 49. Science. — In Geometry the Chaldeans made as much advance as the Egyptians ; in Arithmetic more. Their notation combined the decimal and duodecimal systems. Sixty was a favorite unit, because it is divisible by both ten and twelve : it was used as the hundred is by us. Scientific Medicine was hin- dered by a belief in charms and magic; and even Astron- omy was studied largely as a means of fortune-telling by the stars.^ Some of our boy- ish forms for '' counting out " — " eeny, meeny, mlny, moe," etc. — are remarkably like the solemn forms of divination used by Chaldean magicians. An Assyrian Dog. — Relief on a clay tablet; after Rawlinson. Still, in spite of such superstition, important progress was made. As in Egypt, the level plains and clear skies invited to an early study of the heavenly bodies. The Chaldeans fore- told eclipses, made star maps, and marked out on the heavens the apparent yearly path of the sun. The " signs of the zodiac " in our almanacs come from these early astronomers. Every great city had its lofty observatory and its royal astronomer, and in Babylon, in 331 B.C., Alexander the Great found an un- broken series of observations running back nineteen hundred years. As we get from the Egyptians our year and months, so from the Chaldeans we get the iveek (with its " seventh day of 1 For hundreds of years the stars were believed to have intiuenee upon human life, and a class of fortune tellers claimed to be able to discover this hitiuence, and to foretell the future, by studyiuj^ the heavens. This pretended science is called astrolofiy, to distintruish it from real astronomy. It lasted in England as late as the days of Queen Elizabeth ; and all through the middle ages ua Europe astrologers were often called "Chaldeans." 50] SOCIETY AND CULTURE 65 rest for the soul ") and the division of the day into hours, with the subdivision into minutes. Their notation, by 12 and 60, we still keep on the face of every clock. The sundial and the water clock were Assyrian inventions to measure time. FKAver, have an exagg-erated style, and laid; the noble simplieity o( the l>ible narrativ<\ 51. Industries and their Arts. — Move than tlu^ in her aneient peoples, the men of the Kuphrates made praetieal use of their seienee. They nnderstood tlie Ivrcr and pdlli'i/, and used the air/i in makim;- vaulted drains and aqueduets. They invented the pottfrs ic/ucl ami an exeeilent .^f/stem of (cciijihts and nwasinrs. Their nu\isures were based on the ieng-tli of the tinker, breadth of the liaud. and leui^th of tlu^ arm ; and, with the system of weii^'hts, they have eome down to us through the GreelvS. The sym- bols in the " Apothe- earies' 'I'able '* in our arithmeties are l>abylouian in origin. l>ooks upon aip'ii'Hltnn' passed on the Ixiby Ionian knowledge of that subjeet to tiie (^reelvs and .\rabs. 'I'hey had surpass- ing skill in CKttiiuj (H')iis, enameling, inlaying, l-'very well-to-do person had his seal with whieh to sign letters and legal }>apers. Tlie eiieaper sort w ere o( baked elay, but the rielun- nuni used engraved preeious stones, in the form of eylinders, arranged to revidve on an axis of nunal. Thousands of these have been found, Sonu'' of thenn made of jasper or ehali'edony or onyx, are works of art whieh it would be hard to surpass tivday. Assyrian looms, too, produeed tiie tinest of muslina and of tleeey ivooh'na, to whieh the (/vr/'gave the uiost brilliant eolors. Tho IVKIVN (.'Vl.lNUKK SkaI iso('ii';tv and (utlture 67 rii'li wore loni; robes of tlu)S(^ clot, lis, (hn'oi'MliHl willi emhroiiUM'- i(>s. Tapestries and carix'ls, also, woiultM-l'iilly colored, were woven, for wiills and floors and beds. In many such industries, little advance has been made since, so far as the products are concerned. 52. Architecture and Sculpture. — 'V\\o. I'uph rates valley had no stone and liltl(> wood. JJrick making', therefore, was, next to ai^rienlt.urc\ the most im|)ortant industry. Ordinary houses Impression fhom a Kin<;'s Cylini>ek 8ioai-. — 'J'ho timiro in the air repre- stMits llu' uod who protects the Ivliij;- in liis [UM-ils. were built of cheaj) tiun-dn'ed bricks. The stime material was used for all but the outer courses of the walls of the palaces and tcnnples^; but for these outside faces, a kiln-baked brick was used, much like our own. With only tluvse im})erfect materials, the I^abylonians constructed marvelous tower-temples and elevated gardens, in imitation of mountain scenery. The "ITanuinij: Gardens," built by jMebuchadnezzar to please his wife (from the JMedian mountains), rose, one terrace uj^on an- other, to a height of one hundred and fifty feet. They were counted by the Greeks among the " seven w^onders of the iThc extensivo use of sun-driod brick in Chaldean cities explains their com- plete decay. In the eonrse of ayes, after heini; abandoned, they sank into shapeless nionnds, indistlMunishable from the snrronndiui; i)lain. 68 THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES STATES 52 world." The Babyloniaii j)alaces were usually one story only in height, resting upon a raised platform of earth. But the teviplcs rose stage upon stage, as the drawing opposite shows, with a different color for each story. Assyria abounded in excellent stone. Still for centuries her builders slavishly used brick, like the people from whom they borrowed their art. Finally, however, they came to make use of the better material about them for sculpture and for at least the facings of their public buildings. Thus in architec- A Lu>.\ Hint. — Assyrian reliol'; from Hawliiist»n. ture and sculpture, though in no other art, Assyria, land of stone, excelled Babylonia, land of brick. In the royal palaces, especially, the ahnost unlimited power of the monarch s, and their Oriental passion for splendor and color, produced a sump- tuous magniticence which the more self-restrained modern world never equals. The following description of a palace of ancient Nineveh is taken from Dr. J. K. Hosnier's The Jeics. The passage is partly condensed. *' Upon a huge, wide-spreading, artificial hill, faced with masonry, for a platform, rose cliff-like fortress walls a hundred feet more, wide enough for three chariots abreast and with frecinent towers shooting up to a still loftier height. Sculptured portals, by wliich stood silent guardians, colossal figures in white alabaster, the forms of men and beasts, winged and of majestic mien, admitted to the magniticence within. . . . Upward, tier above tier, into the blue heavens, ran lines of colonnades, pillars of costly cedar, cornices glittering with gold, capitals blazing with vermilion, and, between them, voluminous curtains of silk, purple, and scarlet, inter- 53] RELIGION AND MORALS 69 woven with threads of ^old. ... In the interior, stretching: for miles, literally for miles, the builder of the palace ranged the illustrated record of his exploits. . . . The mind grows dizzy with the thought of the splendor — the processions of satraps and eunuchs and tril)Utary kings, winding up the stairs, and passing in a radiant stream through the halls — the gold and embroidery, the ivory and the sumptuous furniture, the pearls and the hangings." A description with more precise details and less "color" is given in Davis' Headings, Vol. I, No. 10. See also No. 18, " An Assyrian City." 12 ft. 3() ft. ii Section of the Temple of the Seven Spheres, according to a " restoration." —From Rawlinson. H is a Bacreil Bhrine. The soven Htafros he-low It were colored In order from the bottom as f(»llow8 : black, oranf,'c, red, polden, yellow, blue, silver. 53. Religion and Morals. — It cannot now be ascertained at what exact date and in what way polytheism began to strike root in this cradle of mankind. Whether there were still many adorers of the true God in Chaldea at the time when Abraham left this country for the west, that is, about 2000 b.c, is disputed. The idolaters certainly formed an overwhelming majority. It is possible that each of the many little city-states (see § 37) originally worshiped the true God, but each under a different name; and that these names by and by came to 70 TIIK TIGKIS KITHKATES [§5;^ signify nuuiv gods, each of whom Avas the ku^al deity of the respective tribe. W hen the small oommimities, bv peaceful means or otherwise, combined more and more politically, the •• gods ** of each found worshipers in all the triWs thus united, perhaps by Iving othcially recognized. (^IIull, S. J., Aivhaic Beli'ofons, pp. 108 tf.) Like all those nations with whom the original idea of God is obscured, the Chaldeans worshiped the powers of nature, the sun and the moon, tlnmder. the day. etc., whicli were elevated to the rank of gixls or demi-gods. Babylonian idolatry was accompanied by delxising rites, in which drunkenness and sensuality figured as acts of worship. Such revolting features remained through all Ixibylonian history. This as well as the enactments of the laws (^$ 4l> ; also Cath. Emyclopadia, 11. ISr^i show that morality in historic tiuu's was not on a high level among the nations on the Euphrates and Tigris. Marduk, the gixl of the city of Ixibylon. tinally Ivcame something like the sole god, at least the supreme g^xl, of the whole empire. Later on Xelxx the gixl of Borsippa. rose to a similar prominence side by side with Manluk. Whether as a result of this " development " or as a remnant of the original tradition of mankind, some most Wautiful hymns and prayers, discovered amid the wild chaotic vagaries of Chaldean poly- theisu\. reveal a sublime idea of a Suprcuu^ Innng. which, however, was not shared by the masses. (See extracts Wlow.) The Life after Death. — The Chaldeans did not Wstow so much care upon their dead as did the Egyptians. However, each tomb had an altar for otYerings of tVxxl. A man was buried with his arms, a girl with her scent Kettles and ornaments. The condition of the soul after death seems to have been con- sidered as a disagreeable, gloomy state, in or near the tomb. Yet. as in the case of Egypt (see § lV>^, there were not wanting those who believed in a more perfect retribution: some souls were to sutler in a hell of tortures, others who knew how to secure the divine favor were to dwell amid varied pleasures in the distant Isles of the Blest. §r);^I HKLiniox Axn mc^hals 71 From a Chaldemi Ji>/nnt, composed in tho (.'ity of I'r, before tho tinu' of Abraham. " Father. Un\>i- sutToriim ami full of forgiveness, whose hand upholds the life of all mankinil ! . . . Fii-st-born, omnipotent, whose heart is ininiensity. and there is none who may fathom it ! . . . In heaven, who is supreme ? Thou alone, thou art supreme ! On earth, who is supreme ? Thou alone, thou art supreme ! As for thee, thy will is made known in heaven, and the angels bow their faces. As for thee, thy will is made known upon earth, and the spirits below kiss the ground." From a)) As,'e oi' forgiveness.) •• O my god. my sins are many ! . . . (^ my goddess, . . . great are my misdeeds ! I have committed faults and I knew them not. I have fed upon misdeeds and I knew them not. ... 1 weep and no one comes to me ; I cry aloud and no one hears me ; . . . I sink under afHiction. I turn to my merciful god and I groan, Lord, reject not thy servant, — and if he is hurled into the roaring waters, stretch to him thy hand I The sins I have committed, have mercy upon them ! my faults, tear them to pieces like a garment! " (See also Davis' Eeadinipi, Vol. T, Nos. 22 and 24.) Note. — Articles found buried with the dead do not necessarily imply that they were thought useful to the deceased person. We bury our priests in their vestments, our othcere with their swords. Well-to-do persons of both sexes ai-e laid to rest in costly robes and sometimes with precious jewelry. Yet nobody imagines that these things will be needed ; they refer not to the future life but to that which was ended, or simply express affection. Therefore the presence of such articles in the tombs of ancient nations alone does not prove that the nations held erroneous opinions regarding the life after death : to nnike such a statement we must have other in- dications, as inscriptions or the literature of the time. Even the fact that food and drink were placed in the tombs allows of a correct interpretation; this may have been considered as a token of love, or in a time when material sacrifices wei"e custouuiry. may even have been an offering to the true Grod. CHAPTER IV THE MIDDLE STATES The two Syrian peoples that demand notice in a book of this kind are the Phoenicians and the Hebrews. Each of these was an important factor in history. TllK rilOKNICIANS 54. Early Sailors. — Before 1000 B.C. the riioenieiaiis had be- come the traders of the irorld. Their vessels carried most of the coiunierce of BabyUniia and Eg^'pt. Ph(^enician sailors manned the ship that Neco sent to circumnavigate Africa. Indeed the fame of these people as sailors so eclipsed that of earlier peoples that it has been customary to speak of them as •' the first men who went down to the sea in ships." The Phoenicians dwelt on a little strip of broken coast, shut off from the rest of the continent by the Lebanon Mountains (map, page 77). The many harbors of their coast invited them seaward, and the *' cedar of Lebanon • ' furnished the best of masts and ship timber. When history first reveals the iSIed- iterranean, about 1000 b.c, it is dotted with the adventurous sails of the Phoenician navigators, and for centuries more they are the only real sailor folk. Half traders, half pirates, their crews crept from island to island, to barter with the natives or to swee}> them otf for slaves, as chance might best offer. Farther and farther their merchants daringly sought wealth on the sea, until they passed even the Pillars of Hercules,^ into 1 The Greeks jjave this name to two lofty, rocky hills, one on each side of the Strait of Gibraltar. They were i;enerally believed by the aneients to be the limit of even the most darinj; voyage. Beyond them lay iucouceivable dani:;ers. (See map after page Vo'2.) 72 §56] A SAILOR-FOLK 73 tlie open Atlantic. And at last we see them exchanging the precious tin of Britain, the yellow amber of the Baltic, and the slaves and ivory of West Africa, for the spices, gold, scented wood, and precious stones of India. 55. The chief Phoenician cities were Tyre and Sidon. For many centuries, until the attacks by Assyria in the eighth century B.C., these cities were among the most splendid and wealthy in the world. Ezechiel (xxvi, xxvii) describes the grandeur of Tyre in noble poetry that teaches us much regard- ing Phoenician trade and life : — " O thou that dwellest at the entry of the sea, which art the merchant of the peoples unto many isles, . . . thou, Tyre, hast said, I am per- fect in beauty. Thy borders are in the heart of the seas ; thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy planks of fir trees. . . . They have taken cedars from Lebanon to be masts for thee ; they have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood from the isles of Kit- tim [Kition in Cyprus]. Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, . . . blue and purple from the isles of Elishah [North Africa] was thy awning, . . . All the ships of the sea were in thee to exchange thy merchandise. . . . Tarshish [Tartessus, southwestern Spain] was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches. With silver, iroji, tin, and lead they traded for thy wares. Javan [Greek Ionia], Tubal, and Mesheck [the lands of the Black and Caspian seas], they were thy traffickers. . . . They of the house of Togarmah [Arme- nia] traded for thy wares with horses and mules. . . . Many isles were the mart of thy hands. They brought thee bones of ivory and of ebony." Ezechiel names also, among the articles of exchange, emeralds, coral, rubies, wheat, honey, oil, balm, wine, wool, yarn, spices, lambs, and goats. 56. Place in History. — Tlie Phoenicians icere the first colo- nizers of the sea, — the forerunners of the Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, and English. They fringed the Mediterranean with trading stations, many of which grew into cities ; but these " colonies " never depended on their mother cities politically. Chief among them was Carthage in northern Africa, founded about 800 B.C. Later on this city was to engage in a long strug- gle with the Greeks and the Romans. (See map after page 132.) 74 THE PHOENICIANS (§57 Phoenician articles are found in great abundance m the an- cient tombs of the Greek and Italian peninsulas — the earliest European homes of civilization. In a selfish but effective way, the Phoenicians became the " missionaries " to Europe of the culture that Asia and Africa had developed. It was their /miction, not to create civilization, hut to spread it. Especially did they teach the Greeks, who were to teach the rest of Europe. The chief export of the Phoenicians, some one has said, was tJie alphabet. They were only one of several early peoples (as we have recently discovered) to develop a true alpha- bet ; but it is theirs which has come down to us through the Greeks and Romans. When the Egyptians conquered Syria about loOO B.C. (§ 30), the Phoenicians Avere using the cuneiform script of Babylon, with its hundreds of difficult characters. It was natural that, for the needs of their commerce, they should seek a simpler means of communication : and about 1100 B.C., after a gap of some centuries in our knowledge of their writing, we find them v/ith a true alphabet of twenty- two letters. They seem to have taken these from the symbols for sounds among the Egyp- tian hieroglyphs (§ 22), though some scholars think they got them from Crete (§ 96). 57. Society. — The Phoenicians in them- selves do not interest us particularly. They spoke a Semitic tongue (§ 36) ; but their religion was revolting, especially for the cruel sacrifice of the firstborn to Baal, the sun god, and for the licentious worship of Astarte, the moon goddess. c 'c 8 a. 6 -o O c £ c2 &< A A "s ^ B > e D D ^ >r E ^H EH H 1\ K K I U L'L V^ A\ M M A/ N o O 9 9 9Q q PR R vV ^2 ^S r T T Parts of Alphabet. ^ Eiryittian Hieroj.'-lyph. <^ Egyptian Script. ^ Phoenician. A Ancient Greek. A Ancient Latin A Later Latin. Growth of the Letter A. ^58] THE HEBREW STORY 75 " Syria was the confluence and the sink of the nations. The result was an extreme degree of degradation, low conceptions of the gods, wild forms of worship dissociated from morality and vitiated by licentious extravagance." (Hull, S. J., Arch. Rel.) Several cities were grouped loosely about Sidon and Tyre : but they never formed a united state. Satisfled with the proflt of trade, they submitted easily, as a rule, to any powerful neighbor — Assyria or Egypt. As tributaries, they sent work- men to construct the magniiicent buildings of Assyria or to develop the mines of Egypt, and they furnished the fleets of either empire in turn. About 730 B.C. Tyre was reduced in power, by attacks from Assyria ; but it remained a great mercantile center until its capture by Alexander the Great (332 b.c). From this down- fall the city never fully recovered, and flshermen now spread their nets to dry in the sun on the bare rock where once its proud towers rose. (Ezechiel xxvi, 5.) THE HEBREWS 58. The Patriarchs. — As the Phoenicians were men of the sea, so the Hebrews were to carry out their mission, the great- est any nation has ever had, in the interior of the continent. They are also called Israelites or Jews. No nation has such accurate records of its origin and history as they. God Him- self called their ancestor, Abraham, a descendant of Sem, away from his home, the ancient city of Ur (§ 37), where idolatry had become general. God ordered him to settle in what is now Palestine, and promised to make him the father of a great people which was to occupy this very land. In him " all the nations of the world should be blessed," that is to say, the Re- deemer of the world, promised to Adam after the fall, was to come from his descendants. Abraham " believed the Lord." It must have been about 2000 b.c. that he emigrated from XJr. But for a short stay in Egypt caused by a famine, he as well as his son and grandson, Isaac and Jacob, lived a nomadic life in 76 THE HEBREWS 60 the "Promised Land," for two centuries. God repeated to Isaac and Jacob the pledges given to Abraham. 59. Sojourn in Egypt. — Jealousy arising between Jacob's twelve sons, one of them, Joseph, Avas sold b}^ his heartless brothers as a slave, but he eventually became the prime minister of the king of Egypt. Soon again a famine broke out. Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to find relief. Here they were recognized by Joseph. He invited his father Jacob to come with his whole offspring and settle in Europe. " Seventy souls " they arrived and found in the northeast corner, the region of Gessen (Goshen), a congenial dwelling place. All this happened under the HA'ksos kings. In Gessen the Children of Israel grew into a large people. But the time came when the Hyksos rulers were dislodged by the native princes of Thebes. " There arose a new king who knew not Joseph.*' Might not the numerous Israelites, in the case of a new attack of nomads from the northeast, side with the invaders ? So a systematic persecution began. The king " made their life bitter with hard work in clay and brick and with all manner of service." (Exodus i, 14.) Finally he ordered killed all the male infants born of Israelite mothers. 60. The Exodus. — Among those saved from royal brutality was Moses, whom God eventually chose to lead His people out of the " house of bondage " into the land which He had promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the " ten plagues of Egypt " had to come, before Pharaoh was inclined to do the bidding of the God of Israel. The people first turned to the fastnesses of Mount Sinai, where God renewed with them the covenant He had made with 60] OUTLINE OF THEIR STORY 77 THE SYRIAN DISTRICT ^ 1^^ iVr Tf^^ E S V''"' their patriarchal ancestors. Under thunder and lightning He gave to them the Ten Commandments, which are chiefly a wonderfully concise and yet complete code of the natural law. They promised to observe it faith- fully, together with all the ceremonial and other laws which Moses would make known to them. God in return promised them a special care, such as He did not bestow on any other nation. " TJiey shall be My people and I ivill be their GocV He added pledges of temporal prosperity and of an independ- ent national exist- ence. But the great- est was the renewal of the promise given to Abraham, that the Redeemer of the world would be born from among their number. They were to have the honor of keeping ready for Him a place where the worship practiced. Then began the forty years' wandering in the desert, during which they were miraculously fed by the manna. During this of the true God would be actually 78 THE HEBREWS [§62 period Moses perfected the " Law," consisting of detailed cere- monial, civil and political regulations. After Moses' death a new generation entered the " Promised Land " and undertook its conquest under the leadership of Josue. The corrupt popu- lation of Palestine had long provoked the wrath of the Al- mighty. The land was now divided among the Children of Israel according to their twelve tribes. Contrary to the in- junction of God, they did not destroy all the former settlers, and the survivors of the latter, though subject to Israel, proved a very disastrous neighborhood. Chietly by mixed marriages, they frequently seduced numerous Israelites to idolatry and the gross immorality connected therewith. 61. The Judges. — In their new abodes, the people at first were without any political central authority. Each commu- nity had local government, but there was no common bond to unite the whole Hebrew population. It was during this period that on account of their many violations of the covenant, chiefly by idolatry, God alloAved portions of the people to be oppressed by the surrounding races, especially by the powerful Philistines. When they returned to Him in sorrow and contrition. He often raised up among them men of great bravery and capability, who freed them from their enemies. These men retained their influence even after peace was re- stored and acted as rulers ixnd judges. Hence this period is called the time of the Judges. They were, however, no stable institution and none of them controlled the whole people. The only strong bond of Unity during this time of political weak- ness was their religion. Unity of belief, a centralized priestly organization, and yearly pilgrimages to the Holy Tabernacle which had accompanied their fathers through the desert, pre- vented the nation from falling apart or disappearing among their neighbors who were so often their conquerors. 62. Kingship. — The last of the judges and at the same time the greatest of the prophets was Samuel (§ 68). To him the ancients of the people signilied repeatedly that the nation wished to have a king like the races around them. Finally, 62] OUTLINE OF THEIR STORY 79 inspired by God, he anointed Saul king of His people. Saul, however, although he won great victories over their enemies, was ultimately rejected, because he arrogated to himself priestly privileges. God now selected David, the shepherd boy, who became the most powerful king of Israel. He succeeded in completely unifying the nation and in extending its boundaries from the Red Sea to the Euphrates. He fortified and beautified the i ■ f ^ . ift T Ki.^^jfite'^^S^ta Kf^fflHBM^. ^fe^f^*:.' "'.^^^jMHHI W^S^S^^^^'sm^^^'mKt^ mm^-^, :iiggE fe^ ^^^^^^^^^^^■K" ' '^.ii-"' f^ rff"^ ) , 1 1 ^oHMJ^HrJlril^^^^H^H^^I ^^^^HHR^^fi- I^b^k^^^^^HH^SmZ^^^bIVM tl Thk Tkmple of Solomon (Kcstoriiliun;. (From Herder's Kouvers.-Lexikon.) city of Jerusalem, which he made his capital, perfected the organization of the priesthood, and enriched the Hebrew literature with the Psalms, the greatest lyric poems of the world. As a reward for his zeal in the service of God he re- ceived the solemn pramise, that the Redeemer of the world would come from his family, and that, if his descendants re- mained faithful to God, they would be forever preserved in their royal power. 80 THK IIKBREWS [§04 David was succecdcMl by his son iSoh))no)i, faiuoiis for his ■wisdom, who with the aid ot" rhot'iiician worknu'ii built the splendid temple of ,Ierusalem, whieh Avas to be the eenter of Divine worship for the nation. He also erected a magnitieent i\)yal palace, and by his commercial connections with foreign countries enriched the whole people. The first part of his reign is the most glorious period of the history of Israel. But at length the heavy taxes made necessary by his extravagance and luxury embittered his subjects and made them ripe for revolt. Moreover, while polygamy Avas not forbidden by the Mosaic hiAv, Solomon, contrary to the law, took wives from pagan nations, who eventually perverted his heart, so much so that he even built temples to tlieir gods and took ])art in their sacrifices. Consetpiently a j)rophet announced to him that he had forfeited (Jod's favor. Hut for the sake of David his father, the destruction was not to come in his own days, nor would the house of David be deprived of the dominion over the entire nation. 63. Division of the People. — After Solomon's death, ten of the tribes separated themselves from Roboam his son. fluda alone, with the insignificant tribe of Benjamin, remained faith- ful to the hereditary ruler. »)eroboam, a commander of the army, who had fled the country under Solomon, was proclaimed king by the ten tribes. Thus, after 975 h.c, the nation was divided into the northern kingdom of Israel, with Samaria as capital, and the southern kingdom of Jiida, with Jerusalem as capital. 64. Kingdom of Israel. — In the kingdom of Israel idolatry became very general, so that many pious Israelites, ancients and priests emigrated to »Iuda and flerusalem, fIerolH)ani, the first king to alienate the people from Jerusalem and the tem})le, erected golden calves at Dan and Bethel, the northern and southern points of his kingdom, and invited his subjects to worship them. The fiery zeal of the prophet Elias alone pre- vented Israel from bending the knee to Baal, the Phoenician sun-god. The kingdom last.'d L\")2 vears. It had in all nine § (W)| OIITIJNI^: Ol^^ ^IMIKlli STORY 81 teen kiii^s, Ix'loii^iuf^ to nine diiriu-cnt dynasties ; seven of these dynasties were entirely rootiMJ out by tliosc^ \vl»o sueeeeded them. One king ridgned hut a few months, anotlier a few days. Only a singh; king, .lehu, showed true zeal for the Law, and even he toh^rated the worship of the golden ealvs, although he abolished that of Haal. At the time when the IIei)re,w nation thus weakcMied itscdf, the great empirics on the l<]uj)h rates and the Nile also were in a state of deeline and showed little aggressiveness, ^riie wars of the two Israelitic kingdoms recorded in Holy Seripturc^ were; waged l)etween themselves and with the small nati(Mis around them. But after Assyria had rectovered under the usuri)er l*ul (§ 40), it at oiKH^ began a policy of extension and soon its boundaries reached as far as tiie confines of Isracd. In 722 H.c. Salmanassar and his su(;c(!Ssor Sai-gon II (•on(piered Samaria and led the king ()se(; with almost the whoh^ jx'oph^ into captivity. Tiu; ca})tives were settled in the most distant districts of tlu^ Assyrian I^^mpire. These, " the lost ten tril)es," never returned to th(^ huid of their fatluu-s. ('olonists were sent to repeople the (h^sertcMl land ; they fused with the I'cmain- ing Israelites, and thus produci^l tlu; half-])agan ])0]julation of the Samaritans. 65. The Kingdom of Juda, though mu(Oi smaller, enjoyed greater advantages in |)ossessing tlu^ njitional temple and with it the center of the priesthood, and in having the family of the greatest kings as their rulers, it lasted nearly four hundred years, and in this time liad twenty kings, all of the house of David. Only for five years a woman, the pagan Athalia, a cruel tyrant, held the reins of government. She destroyed the whole royal family with the sole exception of one child, Joas, who was for some time concealed in the t(^m})l(\ Not all of the twenty kings were truly religious. The four last ones practiced paganism openly and showed a supreme contempt for the i-eligion of David their great an(;estor. 66. Destruction. — Nal)U(t]iodonosor, king of the second Baby- lonian Knipire (§ 42), destroyed rierusahuu and tin; kingdom. 82 THE HEBREWS (§67 III' lirst iiuulc fhula tributarv. KSevenil times it rose against hiiu, aiul as early as GOG n.c he led away the foremost men into eai)tivity. Finally, he appeared with a strong army before the walls of »Ierusalemand took it after a siege of several years in 58() is.c. King Sedecias saw his own sons slain before him; then his eyes were })ut out, and laden witli chains he was carried to Babylon, Avhere he died in prison. The liabylonians utterly (h'stroyed the splendid city ; the king's palace and the niag- luticent temple sank in ashes ; the people, save some poor vinedressers and husbandmen, were forced to emigrate to the Eui)lirates. The prophet Jeremias had foretold this catastrophe and warned king and priests and people for years. Persecution was his reward. He was now permitted to stay with the mis- erable remnant of the population. It was then that he sang over the ruined city those touching lamentations which resound in our churches every year during Holy Week. " How doeth the city sit solitary that was full of people ! How is the mistress of the nations become a widow ! How is the queen of provinces become tributary ! The ways of Sion mourn, because none come to her solemnities, All her gates are broken, Her priests sigh, Her virgins are in atliiction, And she herself is oppressed with bitterness. All ye that pass by the way attend and see, If there be any sorrow like to my sorrow." 67. Restoration. — This severe chastisement had a lasting effect. In their captivity the people again turned to God. Their greatest desire was to go back to the land of their fathers, and to rebuild the temple and the Holy City. After fifty years this desire was fultilled. As soon as Cyrus, king of Persia, had made himself master of Babylon, he allowed the Jews to return. A large number availed themselves of his permission, and city and temple rose from their ruins. Their land was now ruled by Persian governors. The Persian rule, however. (;si OUTLINE OF TIIFIK STOItY 83 JioiaisA \v;is inild; and nuiiiy ])rivik'.ges (listin^uislicd this jn-oviiu^o Iroiu tlio rest of tlio oin])in^ (§ 72). By constant and most flagrant violation of God's law, kings and people had lost the claim to that independent national existence which had been promised to their ancestors. But in view of their sincere repentance God did not take away from them their spiritual mission with regard to the future Redeemer of mankind. The temple was once more the most hallowed spot on earth. The land of Juda and the new little nation were the only place on earth where " Wisdom dwelt." Tfor did the people ever again fall away from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the house of David did not reascend the throne. It disappeared in obscurity until the time of "Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ." 68. The priesthood <>f tho Ihibrews was not conferred by any kind of ordination like tlie (Miristian sacranumt of Holy Ordc^rs. According; to the will of God, Moses made his brother Aaron hi,i;h priest, which (li<;nlty was always to descend from the actual lii<,di priest to his eldest son. In like manner all the other desecMulants of Aaron wcn'O to be tbt^ ])riests of the nation. They and they alone could perform the i)riestly functions in 84 THE HEBREWS [§68 the temple. Nobody else could "become" priest. Moses and Aaron were of the tribe of Levi ; all the other male members of this tribe, called the levites, were to be the servants and assistants of the priests in their sacred office. Crippled persons, however, or such as were affected with diseases or found guilty of immoral life were not permitted to act as either priests or levites. Unlike the other tribes (§ 60) the tribe of Levi had no territory assigned to it but lived in cities scattered over the whole land. To the support of the priests and levites the whole nation contributed the tithe — one-tenth of the agricultural products of the soil. An important part in Hebrew history is played by the prophets. Each prophet represents a special act of God's providence towards His people, because each one was called and sent individually. Each prophet, therefore, had to prove his mission by some kind of miracle. The prophets were somewhat like the missionaries of our own times. They remindtd the people of its duties and did not hesitate to rebuke the powerful, even the kings. To give force to their preaching, they frequently foretold the chastisements which the wrath of God would inflict in case of continued unfaithfulness. To encourage the people in times of distress, they pointed to the wonders of Divine mercy and kindness, and announced many particular circumstances of the life and death of the Redeemer and the greatness of his spiritual empire. Their title — prophet = one who foretells — expresses only one part of their important office. The Hebrews have not contributed any invention or discovery or other advancement to the material civilization of the world. Theirs was an infinitely higher mission. Of their literature we know beside some other comparatively unimportant productions only the sacred books of the Bible. 1 They are for us an infallible source of faith. But even from the merely secular point of view, they not only contain a great amount of historical and philosophic truth, but have furnished the world with the most sublime works of lyric poetry ever produced. For Further Reaping. — Pages 13-168 in Ecker's School Bible treat of the matter condensed on the above few pages ; nearly every sec- tion will engage the interest of young minds. — Coppens' Choice Morsels, pp. 12-800, offers a selection of the most important chapters of the Bible which refer to this subject. It leaves the original scriptural lan- guage entirely intact. — Let the student always keep before his eyes the systematic arrangement as outlined above. iThe Talmud was not written before the second century after Christ. It is a voluminous collection of laws with their interpretations. It claims to be based on the Bible, but with mauy Jews it is practically taking its place. §68] OUTLINE OF THEIR STORY 85 Exercise. — 1. Locate on the map four centers of civilization for 1500 B.C. ; and note wlien they would naturally come into touch with one another. (One more center for this same age — Crete — is yet to be treated §§ 93-97.) 2. What new center of civilization appeared between 1500 and 1000 b.c. ? CHAPTER V THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 69. The Map grows. — So far, we liave had to do only with the tirst homes of civilization — the Nile and Euphrates valleys — and with the middle land, Syria. Assyria did reach out somewhat, east and west (see map, page BCi) ; but her new regions had no special importance in her day, and made no contributions to civilized life. But shortly before the over- throw of Babylon, two new centers of power appeared, one on either side of the older held. These were Persia and Lydia. 70. Expansion on the West. — Lydia was a kingdom in west- ern Asia .Aliuor. Somewhat before 550 b.c. its sovereign, Croes«.s, united all Asia Minor west of the Halys Kiver under his sway. This made the Lydian Empire for a time one of the great world-])owers (see map following). The region was rich, especially in metals; and the wealth of the monarch so impressed the Greeks that " rich as Croesus " became a by- word. Croesus counted among his subjects the Greek cities that fringed the western coast of Asia Elinor. We have noticed that, shortly before, Greeks had been brought into close touch with Egypt. From this time, historij has to do with Europe as well as with Asia a)nl Etjijpt : and soon that new field was to become the center of interest. Lydia's (nvn gift to the world was the invention of coinage. As early as (mO h.o., a Lydian king stamped upon ])ieces of silver a statement of their weight and purity, with his name and picture as guarantee of the truth of the statement. Until this time, little advance had been made over the old Egyptian method of trade, excej^t that the use of silver rings and bars had become more common. The Babylonians, along with their 86 §72] RISE AND GROWTH 87 other weights and measures, had taught the world to count riches in shekels, — a certain weight of silver, — but there were no coined shekels. The ring and bar "money" had to be weighed each time it passed from hand to hand; and even then there was little security against cheaper metals being mixed with the silver.^ The true money of Lydia could be received anywhere at once at a fixed rate. This made all forms of trade and commerce vastly easier. Other states began to adopt systems of coinage of their own. Ever since, the coinage of money has been one of the important duties of governments. We must not suppose, however, that the old sort of " barter " vanished at once. It remained the common method of exchange in all but the great markets of the world for centuries ; and in new countries it has appeared, in the lack of coined money, in very modern times. In our early New England colonies there were times when people paid taxes and debts "in kind," much after the old Egyptian fashion. One student at Harvard college, who afterward became its president, is recorded as paying his tuition with " an old cow." 71. Expansion in the East. — On the farther side of the Euphrates and Tigris lay the lofty and somewhat arid Plateau of Iran. This was the home of the Medes and Persians. These peoples appeared first about 850 k.c, as fierce barbarians, whom Assyria found it needful to subdue repeatedly. ( Grad- ually they adopted the civilization of their neiglibors ; then, about G25 n.c, a chieftain of tlie Medes united the western tribes of the plateau into a hrm monarcliy; and in (>()(>, as we have seen, this new power conquered Assyria. We are now ready to take up again the story of the growth of the great Oriental empires, where we left it at the close of Chapter III. Chapter IV, dealing with the small Syrian states, was a necessary inter- ruption to that story. 72. Rise of the Persian Empire. — The destruction of Assyrian rule, which we noted toward the close of § 41, took place some 1 In all tliis ancient period, silver was more valuable than gold, and so was taken for the standard of value. 88 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE [§72 years before 000 k.(\ Then the civilized world was divided, for three generations/ between four great powers, — Babylon, Egypt, Lyaia, and Media. Most of that time, these kingdoms were bound together in a friendly alliance ; and the civilized world had a rare rest from internal war. INledia, it is true, busied herself in extending her dominions by war with barbar ous tribes on the east. By such means she added to her terri- tory all the Plateau of Iran and the northern portion cf the old Assyrian Empire. This made her far the largest of the fcmr states. lUit in 558 n.c, C>/nis, a tributary prince of the Persian tribes, threw off the yoke of the Medes and set u}) an inde- pendent Persian monarchy .- Then Persia cpuckly became the largest and most powerful emi)ire the world had known. The war Avith Media resulted in the rapid concpiest of that state. This victory led Cyrus into war with Lydia and Babylon, which were allies of Media. Again he was overwhelmingly victorions. He concpiered Croesns of Lydia and seized upon all Asia Elinor. Then he captured Babylon, and so was left without a rival in the Euphrates and Syrian districts. A few years later his son subdued Egypt. Tints the 7iew empire ijiclnded all the former empires, together with the iietc ilistricts of Iran and Asia Minor. With the Greeks Persia came into conflict, about thirty years after the death of Cyrus. The story belongs to European history (§^ 158 ff.). It is enough here to note that the Persians were finally defeated. Their empire lasted, however, a century and a half more, until Alexander the Great conquered it and united it with the Greek world (§§ 276 ff.). 1 It is time for the student to have a definite understanding of this term, which is used constantly in measuring time. A (feneration means the aver- age interval that separates a father from his son. This corresponds in length, also, in a rough way, to the active years of adult life, — the period between early manhood and old age. It is reckoned at tirenti)-rii''e or thirty years. 2 This prince is known in history as Cyrus the Great. He is the earliest sovereign whose name we distinguish in that way. A student may well make a special report to the class upon the stories connected with his life. Any large history of ancient times gives some of these stories ; and they may be found, in the original form in which they have come down to us, in a transla- tion of Herodotus. See also Davis' Headings, Vol. I, Nos. 25 and 26. §74] RISE AND GROWTH 89 73. Extent of the Empire. — The field of history now widened again. The next three Persian kings (after Cyrus and his son) added vast districts to the empire : on the east, modern Afghanistan and northwestern India, with wide regions to the northeast beyond the Caspian Sea ; and on the west, the Euro- pean coast from the Black Sea to the Greek peninsula and the islands of the ^Egean. This huge empire contained about seventy-live million people. Its only civilized neighbors were India and Greece. Else- Imprkssion from Persian Cvlindkr Seal. where, indeed, it was bounded by seas and deserts. The eastern and western frontiers were farther apart than Wash- ington and San Francisco. The territory included some two million square miles. It was four times as large as the Assyr- ian Em})ire, and equaled nu)re than half modern Europe. 74. Industry and Art. — Originally, the Persians were lowly shepherds. Later, they were soldiers and rulers. After their sudden conquests, the small population had to furnish garri- sons for all the chief cities of the empire, while the nobles were busied as officers in the vast organization of the govern- ment. Accordingly, Persian art and literature were wholly borrowed, — mainly from Babylonia. The cuneiform writing 90 THE PERSIAN EMPIRE [§75 was adopted from that land ; and even the noble palaces, which have been rediscovered at Persepolis, were only copies of Assyrian palaces, built in stone instead of in clay. Persia's services to the ivorld were three : ^ the immense expansion of the ma}) already discussed ; the re^yulse of Scythian savages (§ To) ; and a better organization of government (§§ 76, 77). The religion of the Persians, too, was remarkable (78). 75. Persia and the Scythians. — About 630 B.C., shortly be- fore the downfall of Nineveh, the frozen steppes of the North had poured hordes of savages into western Asia (§ 40). By the Greeks these nomads were called Scythians, and their in- roads were like those of the Huns, Turks, and Tartars, in later history. They plundered as far as Egypt; and they were a real danger to all the culture the world had been building up so painfully for four thousand years. Assyria and Lydia both proved helpless to hold them back ; but the Medes and Persians saved civilization. The Medes drove the ruthless ravagers back to their own deserts ; and the early Persian kings made repeated expeditions into the Scythian country. By these means the barbarians were awed, and for centuries the danger of their attacks was averted. Darius, the greatest of the successors of Cyrus, seems to have justified his conquests on the ground of this service to civilization. In a famous inscription enumerating his con- quests, he says : " Ahura-Mazda [the God of Light] delivered unto me these countries when he saw them in uproar. . . . By the grace of Ahura-Mazda I have brought them to order again." The lengthy inscription from which this passage is taken is cut into a rock cliff, 300 feet from the base, in three parallel columns, in different languages, — Persian. Babylonian, and Tartar. It served as the •- Rosetta Stone" of the cuneiform writing (§ 5). Enough of the Persian was known so that from it scholars learned how to read the Babylonian. Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 27, gives a large part of this inscription, 1 Observe that these services were connected with political history, — as we might expect with a people like the Persians. 76] ORGANIZATION 91 which is one of the most important documents of early history, throw- ing much light upon Persian life and ideals. 76. The Imperial Government. — The empires which came before the Assyrian had very simple machinery for their government. The tribu- tary states kept their old kings and their separate languages, religions, laws, and customs. Two sub- ject kingdoms might even make war upon each other, without interference from the head king. Indeed, the different kingdoms within an empire re- mained almost as separate as before they became parts of the conquering state, except in three re- spects : they had to pay tribute ; they had to assist in war; and their kings were expected, from time to time, to attend the court of the imperial master.^ Plainly, such an empire would fall to pieces easily. If any disaster happened to the ruling state, — if a foreign invasion or the unexpected death of a sovereign oc- curred, — the whole fabric might be shattered at a moment. Each of the original kingdoms would become independent Persian Queen: fragment of a bronze statue. The dress seems very " modern." iThe brief empire of the Jews, for instance, had been of this nature. Solomon, the Book of Kings tells us, "reigned over all the kingdoms . . . unto the border of Egypt; they brought presents and served Solomon." 92 TIIK PERSIAN EMPIRE [§76 ap^ain ; and then would follow years of bloody war, until some king built up the empire ouce more. Peace and security could not exist under such a system. Assyria, it is true, had beij:uu to reform this system. The great Assyrian rulers of the eighth century were not si m ply- conquerors. They were also organizers. They left the subject peoples their own laws and customs, as before ; but they broke up some of the old kingdoms into satra2)(es, or provinces, ruled by appointed officers (§ 40). The system, however, was still unsatisfactory. In theory the satraps were wholly dependent upon the will of the im- perial king; but in ])ractice they were very nearly kings themselves, and they were under constant temptation to try to become independent rulers, by rebellion. This was the plan of imperial government as the Persians found it. They adopted and extended the system of satraps ; and Darius, the fourth Persian king (521-485 n.c), introduced tJn'ee checks upon rcbcUion. In each of the twenty i)rovinces, power was divided between the satraj) himself and the com- mander of the standing army. In each jirovince was placed a royal secretary (the ^'King's Ear") to communicate con- stantly with the Great King. And, most important of all, a special royal commissioner (the " King's Eye "), backed with military forces, appeared at intervals in each satrapy to in- quire into the government, and, if necessary, to arrest the satra}). Darius is well called " ///^ Organizer.^^ Political organiza- tion advanced no farther until Roman times. Not much had been done to ])romote a spirit of nniti/ among the diverse peoples of the enii)ire. Each still kept its separate language and customs. Still, for the age, the organization of Darius was a marvelous work. It was the most satisfactory ever devised by Orientals ; and indeed it was nearer to the later Roman imperial government than to the older and looser Asiatic system of kingdom-empires. The modern Turkish, empire, in its best days, has used this system. §77] ORGANIZATION 93 77. Post Roads. — The Piirsians, too, were more ilioiii^litful of the welfare of their subjects than the Assyrians liad been. To draw the distant parts of the empire closer, Darius built a magnificent system of post roads, with milestones and ex- cellent inns, with ferries and bridges, and with rcdays of horses for the royal couriers. The chief road, from Susa to Sardis (map, after page 84), was over fifteen hundred miles Tkhsian r>i{(>i\/K Lion, ;il. Siisa. long; and it is said that dispatches werc^ sometimes carried its whole length in six days, although ordinary ti'avcd ref[uir('d three months. Benjamin Ide Wheeler writ(;s of this great highway (Alexander the Gre<(,f, 10()-197) : — " All the diverse life of the countries it traversed was drawn into its paths. (Marians and Cilicians, Phrygians and (.'ai)i)ad()ciaMs, staid Lydians, sociable (Jrceks, crafty Anncnians, rude traders from the Kuxine shores, nabobs of Babylon, M(!des and Persians, galloping couriers mounted on their Bokhara ponies or line Arab steffds, (uivoys with train and state, jxiasants driving their donkeys huhm with skins of oil or wine or sacks of grain, statcily caravans bearing the wares and fabrics of the south to exchange for the metals, slaves, and grain of the north, travelers and traders seeking to know and exploit the world, — all 04 Till'] PKIv\SIAN EMPIRE [§78 wcvv tluM-c, Miitl all were sale uiulcr tlic prolrclion of an feacliiui^-s of Zoroaster (about lOOO i'..c.'), wliicli are laid down in the Arcsfa, the Persian Uible. Accoi-diiiL;- to the A vesta, there is one i^ood g-od, called Ahura. Mazda,, or Or- niuzd, who created all L^ood thiiii^'s, and another god, called Ahi-inian, who is bad and created all evil thiiiLjs. A continuous struggh" is .u'oini;- on between these two j^'ods, in which man by Ins rre(> actions must necessarily take part. Those wlio observe t he command nu'uts of Ahura Ma/da will be rewarded in the next, world ; if any one sins, the do(.r is oj)en for rejxMit- ance and forijiveiu'ss. r.ut those whose evil deeds outweigh tJie good will suffer in a t.errible hell of tire. in the (>n(l Ahura Ma/da will compier. There will be a, geiuM-al resurrection from death, the whole earth will be cl(>ansed by lire, the bad god, Ahriman, will be destroyed, and all, ev(Mi those that are in hell, will enter upon a. state of eternal ha|)piness. I'^ach god is surrounded by spirits, which, however, are his creatures. The outward sign of Ahura. INlazda., and as it were his rolu', is the light; hence their veneration tor the sun and the tiri>. The moral system, as i'ar as we know, was nobler and purer than that of any ancient nation exee[)t the Hebrews. \'irtues and vices are enuiiu'rated much as in Christian ethics. Special stress is laid on jmrity, material cleanliness included, on char- ity and kindness, and on truthfulness. Lying is one of the grea.ti'st evils ; "may Ahura. Ma./da. i)rotect this land from the hostile inroad, from the bad harvests and from lying." The youths i)[' the Tersian nobility wert> trainc'd to ride, tt) shoot with tlu> bow, and to tell tlu* truth. Agriculture and faruung W(MH» raised to the dignity of religious duties. ' Date is uiuortaiu. Some scholars put Zoroaster us late as (JOO B.C. [§78 HKLimON AND MOFiALS 95 The kiii^s ol' IN'Tsiii,, while rcrcrriii}^- t,<) Aliur;i, Mii//,(l:i, Ir*!- ([Uently and asci-ihin^ \a liiiii nil tJicir successes, iievei- ineii- tioii the evil god Aliriiiiaii. Did tlicy perlia[>s sec; that this part of the (h)eti'ine (;oiitaiii(;d a vc^ry gross (UTor ? The evil spirit is a (;reatun; and of (;ourse lac-ks the ])ovv(m- of erc^atiiig. Nor will h(; and his "angels" he anniliil;i-t(!d on the last d;iy, nor will iicll coiik; to an end, because Our Loi'd says, "thiiir worm dietli not ;uid th(! lii'e is not (extinguished." On the wliole, liowever, W(^ ui;i,y agree with K. W,. Hull, S.»I., who con- sidei'S "the religion of tin; a,ncient I'ersians to lia.ve pr(;s<;i'V<'(l the primitive! revcdation in a i'orm most closely a-pproxinuiting to its pristine; purity ; the main ideas l)eing retained intat^t, and the (!i'i-oneous a,cc.i'el,ioiis heing ol' a sccoudai'v ;ind not very bizarre nature;." (ArcJuiic /{dit/iotis, p. llid.) It is justly prcisumed that the; lavoi- shown by (!yrus and his suc- (Hissors to the !Iebi'(;ws was grea,tly dm; to the similarity be- tw(;en the P(;rsian and Jewish religions. Coiupiest and dominion corrupted in some; mcasui-e- the; e;ai-ly simplicity of the; I'ci-siaiis. If tJicy aJ'te-rwarels we're coiKpicred by the (jrr(;e;ks, it was not lor the; suj)e;i-ie)rity e)!" (ire;e;k re;ligion, nor for la(;k of bravery, but because ol" improved weapejiis and bette;r ge;ne;ia,lsliip. In India soriu; 90,000 jxtsodh called I*arHoe;s, the dcscciidaiitH of those; who took refuge there wlieiii I'crHJa was forced into Moliarnedanisni, Htill profess the religion of ZoioaKte;r, For FiiHTriKit Rkaiuno. — There is a good twenty-page treatment of the Persian Ktnpin; in li(;njaniiii lele Wheseler's Alexander the (heut, for at least half of their four thousand years, another culture had been rising slowly along the coasts and islands of southern Europe. After its separation from the jiarent stock this Euroj)ean civilization saw a rather independent development. It was influenced in many ways by that of the Oriental nations, but it always kept 09 100 THE GREEKS [§83 a distinct character of its own. Tlie difference tvas due, in part at least, to differences in physical r/eograpJn/. Four features of European geography were specially important : — Europe is a peninsula. TJie sea is easy of access.^ Euroi^e has a more temperate climate than the semitropical river valleys of Asia ; and food crops demand more cultivation. These conditions called for greater exertion upon the part of man. Moreover, the natural products of Europe were more varied than those of Asia. This led to greater variety in human occupations. The beginnings of civilization were slower in Europe; but man was finally to count for more there than in Asia. In contrast witli the vast Asiatic plains and valleys, Europe is broken into many sinall districts, tit to become the homes of distinct peoples. Thus many separate civilizations grew up in touch with one another. Their natural boundaries kept one from absorbing the others. So they remained mutually help- ful by their rivalry and intercourse. Europe could not easily he conquered by the Asiatic empires. This consideration was highly important. Some districts of Asia, such as western Syria and parts of Asia Minor, had a physical character like that of Europe. Accordingly, in these places, civilizations had begun, with a character like that of later European peoples. But these states were reached easily by the forces of the earlier and mightier river-empires ; and in the end the "Asiatic character" was always imposed upon them. Europe was saved, partly by its remoteness, but more by the Mediterranean. 83. The Mediterranean has been a mighty factor in European history. Indeed, through all ancient history, European civili- zation was merely " Mediterranean civilization." It never ventured far from the coasts of that sea. The Mediterranean was the great highicay for friendly intercourse, and the great 1 Through all "ancient history" (§ 4), "Enrope" means southern and central Europe. Russian Europe, indeed, is really part of Asia in geography, and it has always been Asiatic rather than European in civilization. §85] INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY 101 harrier against Asiatic conquest. Thus, Persia subdued the Asiatic Greeks, almost without a blow : the European Greeks she failed to conquer even by supreme effort. To understand this value of the sea as a barrier, we must keep in mind the character of ships in early times. The sea was the easiest road for merchants, traveling in single vessels and certain of friendly welcome at almost any port. But oars were the main force that drove the ship (sails were used only when the wind was very favorable) ; and the small vessels of that day could not carry many more people than were needed to man the benches of oarsmen. To transport a large army, in this way, with needful supplies, — in condition, too, to meet a hostile army at the landing place, — was almost impossible, 84. Greece was typical of Europe in g('ograi)hy and civilization. The Greeks called themselves Jlellenes (as they do still). Hellas meant not European Greece alone, but all the lands of the Jlellenes. It included the Greek peninsula, the shores and islands of the Aegean, Greek colonies on the Black Sea, to the east, and in Sicily and southern Italy, to the west, with scat- tered patches elsewhere along the Mediterranean. Still, the central peninsula remained the heart of Hellas. Epirus aud Thessaly had little to do with Greek history. Omitting them, the area of Greece is less than a fourth of that of New York. In this little district are found all the charac- teristic traits of European geography. It has been well called the "most European of European lands,'^ and it became the first home of Eiiro)>ean, cuUnre. 85. Greek Geography and its Influence. — Certain factors in Greek geography deserve special mention even though we re- peat part of what has been said of Europe as a whole. a. The islands and the patches of Greek settlements on distant coasts made many distinct geographical divisions. Even the little Greek peninsula counted more than twenty such units, each shut off from the others by its strip of sea and its moun- tain walls. Some of these divisions were about as large as an American township, and the large ones (except Thessaly and Epirus) were only seven or eight times that size. 102 THE GREEKS [§85 The little states which grew up in these divisions differed widely from one another. Some were monarchies; some, oligarchies; some, democracies.! In some, the chief industry was trade; in some, it was agriculture. In some, the people were slow and conservative ; in others, they were enterprising and progressive. Oriental civilizations, we have seen (§80), were marked by too great uniformity; the civilizations of European countries have been marked by a wholesome diversity. This character was found especially among the Greeks. h. Mountain people, living apart, are usually rude and con- servative ; but /rom such tendencies Greece was saved by the sea. The sea made friendly intercourse possible on a large scale, and brought Athens as closely into touch with Miletus (in Asia) as with Sparta or Olympia. This value of the sea, too, held good for different parts of "European Greece" itself. The peninsula has less area than Portugal, but a longer coast line than all the Spanish peninsula. The very heart of the land is broken into islands and promontories, so that it is hard to find a spot thirty miles distant from the sea. c. Certain products of some districts made commerce very desir- able. The mountain slopes in some parts, as in Attica, grew grapes and olives better than grain. Wine and olive oil had much value in little space. Thus they were especially suited for commerce. Moreover, such mountain districts had a limited grain supply ; and, if population was to increase, the people were driven to trade. Now, sailors and traders come in touch constantly with new manners and new ideas, and they are more likely to make progress than a purely agricultural people. Exchanging commodities, they are ready to exchange ideas also. The seafaring Greeks were " always seeking some new thing." lA monarchy, in the first meaning of the word, is a state ruled by one man, a " monarch." An oligarchy is a state ruled by a " few," or by a small class. A democracy is a state where the whole people govern. In ancient history the words are used with these meanings. Sometimes " aristocracy " is used with much the same force as oligarchy. (In modern times the word "monarchy" is used sometimes of a government like England, which is monarchic only in form, but Avhich really is a democracy.) 22° Longitude East 23° fro 85] INFLUENCE OF GEOGRAPHY 103 d. These early seekers found valuable neio things within easy reach. Furtiiiiately, this most European of all European lands lay nearest of all Europe to the old civilizations of Asia and Egyi)t. Moreover, it faced this civilized East rather than the barbarous West. On the other side, toward Italy, the coast of Greece is cliff or marsh, with only three or four good harbors. On the east, howevei-, the wliole line is broken by ScKNK IN THE Valk OF Tkmi'e. — Fioui ii photograph. Cf. § 17.*i. deep bays, from whose mouths, chains of inviting islands lead on and on. In clear weather, the mariner may cross the Aegean without losing sight of land. e. Very important, too, was the appearance of the landscape. A great Oriental state spread over vast jjlains and was bounded by terrible immensities of desolate deserts. But, except in Thessaly, Greece contained no plains of consequence. It was a land of intermingled sea and mountain, ivith everytldrKj upon a moderate scale. There were no mountains so astounding as to 104 THE GREEKS [§86 awe the mind. There were no destructive earthquakes, or tre- mendous storms, or overwhelming Hoods. Oriental man had bowed in superstitious dread before the mysteries of nature, with little attempt to explain them. But in Greece, nature was not terrible ; and men began early to search into her secrets. In like manner, Oriental desjyotism gave way to Greek freedom. No doubt, too, the moderation and variety of the physical world had a part in producing the many-sided genius of the people and their lively but well-controlled imagination. And the varied beauty of hill and dale and blue, sunlit sea, the wonderfully clear, exhilarating air, and the soft splendor of the radiant sky helped to give them intense joy in mere living. 86. Summary. — We have noted live features of Greek geog- raphy : the many separate districts ; the sea roads ; the in- ducements to trade ; the vicinity of the open side to Eastern civilization ; and the moderation, diversity, and beauty of nature. Each of these live features became a force in history. The Greeks produced many varieties of society, side by side, to react upon one another. They learned quickly whatever the older civilizations could teach them. They never submitted long to arbitrary government, as the great Asiatic peoples did. Above all other peoples, they developed a love for harmony and proportion. Moderation became their ideal virtue. ExKRoisK, — Kevievv the topic — Influeiu-e of Geoijraphy upon History ■up to this point. See Index, Fhi/sical Geography. CHAPTER VIII HOW WE KNOW ABOUT "PREHISTORIC" HELLAS 87. The Homeric Poems. — The Greeks were late in learning to use writing, and so our knowledge of early Greek civilization is imperfect. Until recently, what knowledge we had came mainly from two famous collections of early poems, the Iliad and the Odf/sspy. The later Greeks believed that these were composed ab(jut 1100 p..c. by a blind minstreP named Homer. We still call them " the Homeric poems," though some scholars believe that each collection was made up of ballads by many bards. The poems were not put into manuscript until about GOO B.C. ; but they had been handed down orally from generation to gen- eration for centuiies. The Iliad describes part of the ten-year siege of Troy (Ilium') in Asia. A Trojan prince had carried away the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta; and, under the leadership of the great king Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, the chiefs had rallied from all parts of Greece to recover her. Finally they captured and burned the city. The Odyssey narrates the wanderings of Odysseus (Ulysses), one of the Greek heroes, in the return from the war. The Trojan war may be fact or fiction.^ In either case, the pictures of society in the poems must be true to life. In rude ages a bard may invent stories, but not manners and customs.^ 1 In early times, the poet did not write his poems. He chanted them, to the accompaniment of a harp or some such instrument, at festivals or at the meals of chieftains. Such a poet is called a minstrel, or l)ard, or harper. 2 A well-known Homeric scholar has just published an ingenious book to prove that there was a real Trojan war, and that it was fought by the Greeks to secure control of the Hellespont — and so of the Black Sea trade. Teachers will find this latest contribution to the Homeric problem intensely interesting: Walter Leaf, Troy : A Study in Homeric Geography , Macmillan. 3 To-d(iy a novelist inclines naturally to make the people in his story talk and act like the people in real life around him. To be sure, now, he may try, 105 106 PREHISTORIC HELLAS [§88 Thus these Homeric poems teach ns much about what the Greeks of 1000 or 1100 ba\ thought, and how they lived. 88. Remains in the Soil. — Quite veceiitly another source of information has been opened to us. Students of Greek history strangely neglected the remains buried in the soil, long after the study of such objects in the Orient had disclosed many wonders ; but in 1870 a.d. Dr. Schliemann, a German scholar, turned to this kind of investigation. He hoped to prove the Homeric stories true. His excavations, and those of others since, have done a more important thing. They have added much to our knowledge of Homer's time, but they have also opened up two thousand i/ears of older culture, of which Homer and the later Greeks never dreamed. 89. Henry Schliemann's own life was as romantic as any story in Homer. His fatlior wa.s the pastor in a small German village. The boy grew up with perfect faith in fairies and uoblins and tales of magic treas- ure connected with the old history of the place. His father told him the Homeric stories, and once showed him a fanciful picture of the huge " Walls of Troy." The child was deeply interested. When he was told that no one now knew just where Troy had stood, and that the city had left no traces, he insisted that such walls must have left remains that could be uncovered by digging in the ground ; and his father playfully agreed that sometime Henry should find them. Later, the boy learned that the great scholars of his day did not believe that such a city as Troy had ever existed. This aroused in him a fierce resentment ; and to carry out his childhood dream of finding the great walls of Homer's city became the passion of his life. To do this he must have riches. He was very poor. Six years he worked as a grocer's boy ; then, for many years more as clerk for various larger firms. All this time he studied zealously, learning many languages. This made it possible for his employers to send him to foreign countries, in connection with their business. In this way he found opportunities to amass wealth for himself, and, at the age of forty- eight, he was ready to begin his real work. purposely, to represent a past age (historical novel), or he may try foolishly to represent some class of people about whom he knows little. But in an early age, like that of the Homeric poems, a poet cannot know any society except the simple one about him, and he knows all phases of that. If he tells a story at all, even of a former age, he makes his actors like juen of his own time. §91] TROY AND MYCENAE 107 Three incidents in the explorations are treated in the following paragraphs. 90. Excavations at Troy. — Dr. Schliemann began his excava- tion at a little village in " Troy-land," three miles from the shore, where vague tradition placed the scene of the Iliad. The explorations continued more than twenty years and dis- closed the remains of nine distinct towns, one above another. The oldest, some fifty feet below the present surface, was a rude village, whose inhabitants knew only stone implements. The second showed powerful walls with a strong citadel whi(;h had been destroyed by lire. Its civilization was marked by bronze weapons and gold ornaments. Dr. Schliemann thought this city was Homer's Troy. But we know now that it passed away more than a thousand years before Homer's time, and no doubt the very memory of its civilization had perished before the real Troy was built. Above it, came the remains of three inferior settlements, and then — the sixth layer from the bottom — a much larger and finer city, which had perished in confla- gration some twelve hundred years before Christ. Extensive explorations conducted after Schliemann's death made it clear that this sixth city corresponded strikingly to the descriptions contained in the Iliad. There is therefore no reason to doubt its identity with Homeric Troy. Above this Homeric Troy came an old Greek city, a magnificent city of the time of Alexander the Great, a Roman city, and, finally, the squalid Turkish village of to-day. 91. Excavations at Mycenae. — Homer places the capital of Agamemnon, leader of all the Greeks, in Argolis at " Mycenae, rich in gold." Here, in 1876, Schliemann uncovered the remains of an ancient city, with peculiar, massive (" Cyclo- pean ") walls. Within, were found a curious group of tombs, where lay in state the embalmed bodies of ancient kings, — "in the splendor of their crowns and breastplates of embossed plate of gold ; their swords studded with golden imagery ; their faces covered strangely in golden masks. The very floor of one tomb was thick with gold dust — the heavy gilding from some perished kingly vestment. In another was a downfall of golden leaves and flowers. And amid this pro- 108 PREHISTORIC HELLAS [§92 fusion of fine fragments were rings, bracelets, smaller crowns, as for children, dainty butterflies for ornaments, and [a wonderful] golden flower on a silver stalk." One tomb, with three female bodies, contained 870 gold objects, besides multitudes of very small ornaments and count- less gold beads. In another, live bodies were " literally smoth- ered in jewels." And, with these ornaments, there were skill- fully and curiously wrought weapons for the dead, with whet- stones to keep them keen, and graceful vases of marble and alabaster, carved with delicate forms, to hold the funeral food Bronze Dagger from Mycenae, iulaid with gold and wine. Near the entrance lay bodies of slaves or captives who had been offered in sacrifice. 92. These discoveries confirmed much in "Homer." Like "Troy," so this ancient ]\Iycenae had perished in fire long before Homer's day. But similar cities must have survived, in some parts of Hellas, to be visited by the wandering poet. From remains of many palaces, it may be seen now that the picture of ]Menelaus' palace in the Od/jssey (vii, 84 ff.) was drawn from life, — the friezes of glittering blue glass, the walls flashing with bronze and gleaming with plated gold, the heroes and their guests feasting through the night, from gold vessels, in halls lighted by torches held on massive golden statues. 93. Excavations in Crete. — Schliemann's discoveries amazed and aroused the world. Scores of scholars have followed him, exploring the coasts of the Aegean at many points. The most wonderful discoveries of all have been made in Crete, — mainly since the year 1900. Old legends of the Greeks represented that island as one source of their civilization and as the home 93] EXCAVATIONS IN CRETE 109 of powerful kings before Greek history began. These legends used to be regarded as fables; but we know now that they were based upon true tradition. At Knossos, a palace of The Gate of the Lions at Mycenae. The huge stone at the top of the gate, supporting the lions, is 15 feet long and 7 feet thick. Enemies could reach the gate only by passing between long stone walls — from behind which archers could shoot down upon them. ^' King Minos^' has been unearthed, spreading over more than four acres of ground, with splendid throne rooms, and with halls and corridors, living rooms, and store rooms. In these no PREHISTORIC HELLAS [§93 last, there were found multitudes of small clay tablets covered with writing, — apparently memoranda of the receipt of taxes. No one can yet read this ancient Cretan writing ; but the sculp- tures and friezes on the walls, the paintings on vases, and the gold designs inlaid on sword blades teach us much about this forgotten civilization. Especially amazing are the admirable ^ W^i^^ . ^^IliihiMllllBMUlii ^ i»^ ^■K; ^^^^^^^^H ■HKp^:: J ^^^K fi ' pW^MBBCP'^ lii.JP '^ HP r ■ MuL Til OF Palace Sewer at Knossos, Avitli terracotta Uraiu pipes, showiug method of joining pipes. From Baikie. bath rooms of the palace, with a drainage system which has been described as " superior to anything of the kind in Europe until the nineteenth century." The pipes could be flushed properly, and a man-trap permitted proper inspection and re- pair. Back of the Queen's apartments, stood a smaller room with a baby's bath. Like Troy and Mycenae, the remains show that Knossos was burned and ravaged — about 1500 b.c. CHAPTER IX THE FIRST CIVILIZATION OF HELLAS 94. Antiquity of "Cretan Culture." — Kor a long time the civilization of Greece was not known to have existed before Head of a Bull, from a Knossos relief. 800 or about 1000 b.c. at the most. That people more or less civilized were living in the Greek lands and islands when the pyramids rose in Egypt was vaguely believed by many and doubted or denied by others. Yet it remained a riddle to all how the Greeks could have suddenly appeared on the scene with a civilization which was not only a full-grown but also a very peculiar one, vastly different from that of the East. The discoveries of Dr. Schliemann and his later successors, however, have brought to light the fact that the coasts of the Aegean Sea were alive with human activity for a long period 111 112 PREHISTORIC HELLAS [§94 before the Trojan war. There was some kind of civilization in these regions nearly as early as in Egypt and Babylonia. Our sole source for this knowledge are relics. So far it has not been possible to decipher any of the inscriptions belonging to that remote age. Much has been learned from the condition of the ruins, the cause of their destruction, and the evident attempts, successful or unsuccessful, at rebuilding tnem. The many pictorial representations of human life also contributed a con- siderable share. " Vaphio Cups " : 3i iuches high ; 8 ounces each. Found at Vaphio, iu the Peloponnesus, in 1889 a.d., and dating hack at least to 18(X) or 2000 b.c. Prohahly Cretan in origin. Very delicate and yet vigorous goldsmith work. See the scroll on the page opposite. For some time historians called this civilization Mycenean, a name still applied occasionally to the last period of it. It was also styled Minoan, from Minos, the great Cretan lawgiver. But it seems better simply to use the name of Cretan civiliza- tion for the whole period preceding the Homeric age. In the island of Crete it evidently reached its highest perfection. This island, stretching as it does its extended body across the mouth of the Aegean Sea, and yet not too far distant from the coasts of Egypt and Syria, served as a stepi)ing stone from these countries to Greece and Europe. In fact, many of its first inhabitants seem to have coma from Phoenicia and 95] CRETAN CIVILIZATION 113 114 PREHISTORIC HELLAS [§95 Egypt.i The Cretan civilization, however, extended over the entire coast of the Aegean Sea and in patches from Cyprus in the East as far west as Sardinia and even Spain. 95. Origin and Nature. — It is of course impossible to say how much of the achievements of pre-diluvian civilization the first comers brought with them to the coasts and islands of the Aegean Sea. There seems to have been a period, about 4000 or 3500 li.c, when their settlements, like the lower- most of the "towns" discovered by Schliemann on the site of ancient Troy, consisted of plain round huts and their implements were made of stone. Yet they were by no means without refinement. The ornamentation of their hand-made pottery — they did not know the potter's wheel — shows skill and love of beauty. The better sort of knives and arrow- heads was made from a peculiar dark and hard stone which is found in any consider- able (piantity in the island of INIelos only ; this seems to indicate that no little trade was going on along these coasts, which in all likelihood was not confined to stone. As we have seen, Schliemann's second city, a very early settlement, contains bronze relics. When and whence this metal and the art of Avorking it Avas acquired is a matter of conjecture. But the connection of Phoenicia Avith Crete and the Aegean Sea A\^as very lively during those early times (see § 54). Finds in Egyptian ruins of a very ancient date and Egyptian relics unearthed in Crete shoAv that there must have been at times at least a rather brisk intercourse between Crete and Egypt as Avell. As a consequence Egyptian and Eastern 1 The bulk of the population of historic Greece was of a different stock. They belonged to the Japhetites or Aryans, and had probably come by two ways, Asia Minor and Europe. Vase from Knossos (about L'LW B.C.), with eharacteristie sea-life ornament. From Baikie. 961 CRETAN CIVILIZATION 115 0i ®rCp arts luid inventions and every kind of progress found their way to Crete and further to the Aegean territory and Europe. But these achievements were not admitted or coi)ied slavishly. They were rather adapted and improved upon than simply adoi)ted. Cretan civilization on the island and in its whole sphere of influence took an entirely individual course. The nature of the habitations, the character of the people and their different ideals and ideas worked out a kind of culture which was not found elsewhere. We may call it the beginning of European civilization. 96. The Best Stages. — At all events, by 2500 n.c, Crete had advanced far in the l)ronze age of culture ; and for the next tliou- sand years her civilization (in material things, at least) was quite ecj^ual to that of Kgypt. The old hand-made pottery gave way to admirable work on the potter's wheel ; and the vase paintings, of birds and beasts and plant and sea life, are vastly more lifelike and graceful than any that Egyptian art can show. The walls of houses were decorated with a delicate " egg-shell " porcelain in artistic designs. Gold inlay work, for the deco- ration of weapons, had reached great perfection. A system of syllabic writing had been developed, seemingly more advanced than the Egyptian. Unhappily scholars have not yet found a key to it ; but some believe that it may have been the II k. u^-f?-,''" Cretan Writing. (Plainly, some of these characters are numerals. Others have a strong likeness to certain Greek letters, esi)ecially in the oldest Greek writing.) It) rKKlllSTOKir 11 ELLAS (§96 coimuoii ancestor of the riioenieiau ami the (Jreek alphabets.^ The palaee at Knossos (Jj \y[) was built about 'JliOO u.e., and re- built and iniproviHl about KSlH). Its uuuiarcli must have ruh>d all the island, and pri>hably i^as the (J reek legenils taught) over wiile regions of the sea. Tlu' eitv had no walls to shut out an eneuiv : Crete relied upon luu- sea jiower to ward i>t"t' invaders. \\ i> niav think of tlu' Cretan lawgiver, Minos, seated on his thn>ne at Knossos, ruling ovc>r tlu' surrounding seas, at about the tinu' Abraham left Ir to found the Hebn'w raee, or a littK' beb>re the law- giver, Hammurabi, estal>- HsIuhI the (>ld l>abvhmian I'mjtire, ov as a eontem- porary of souu' of the be- netieent pharaohs of the Middle i\ingdom in Kgvpt. T/w li/c at court is por- trayed to us in the fresi'oes of tlu' palaee walls. Souu'tiuu>s tlu> de- pendants of [\\c prinee march into the royal eastle in stately procession to otTiu- their gifts anil, per- haps, pay tribute to their master. Souu'times the court is tilled with gayly dressed courtiers and lailies. The niU>les wear their hair in three hmg curls. The wouu'u were not banished from society life as in latiu- (i recce, but uun-ed freely in the company of men as in nu'iliainal and modern * One i>Ui Kiuuan writor (l>iodi>nis Sionlus) has prestMVoil tho intoreslini: fact that tho Cretans thoiuselvos in his ilay ohiiiueil to have boon tho inventors So-ealUui Thui>nk i>f Miniks in thi i'...,.v> at Kn»>ssos. Says Baikie (^\'(J Kiin/s of Crttt\ 12) : "No niore ancient throne ex- ists in Europe. t>r pri>bably in the world. " Compare its associations witli tliose of the tlirtMie of (.^liarU-niaune. {V. Cv'A.) § Oti] CRETAN CIVILIZATION 117 times. Those lords and Indies appear sitting, standing, ges- tieulating in animated eonversation. Occasionally the court is represented on a balcony or large veranda intently watching some game or pert'ormaneiN })erhaps a bull light or the taming (\)<)KiN(i U iKNsii,s, 1(1111111 ill one tomb at Kiiossos. and training of wild bulls. Tlu' bull was a favorite subject of Cretan art. See the illustrations in tlu'se i)ages.i The chief article of the men's dress was a linen cloth hang- ing from the waist or fashioned into short trousers, like the dress of the men seen on the Egyptian nu)numents. To this the nobles sometimes, when not in war or hunting, added a of the alphabet. He says: " Some pretend that the Syrians were the inven- tors of letters, and that the Phoenit-ians learned from them and bronyht the art of writing; to Greece. . . . But the Cretans say that the tirst invention eame from Crete, and that the Phoeiiieians only changed the form of the let- ters and made the knowledge of them more general anu)ng the peoples." Modern Cretans had forgotten this claim for many centuries, but recent dis- coveries go far to prove it true. 1 Compare also the later story of the Athenian hero Theseus and the Cretan Minotaur (bull) in any collection of Greek legends, as in Hawthorne's Tanf/h'wood Tales. lis rUEHlSTOHlC HELLAS §97 short sleeveless mantle, fastened over one shoulder with a jewelled pin : their l>elt, drawn tight alxnit the waist, always carried a dagger, inlaid with gold tigures. The women's dress was very elaborate, with tine sewing and exquisite embroidery. It resembled muoh more the female dress of modern davs than did that of the women of later Greeee and Rome. The skirts were Ivll-shaped, like the ^"™^^i^|] mi 11 umimiiiaL'*^*^ fashion of some tifty years ago. and tioimoed with ruttlos. Men and women alike wore gold bracelets, and the women added long coils of Waded necklaces. Each home wove its own cloth, as we learn from the loom-weights in every house. Eiich home, to^^, had its stone mortars for grinding the daily supply of meal. Kitchen utensils were varit\l and numerous. They include perforated skimmers and strainers, and charccxil carriers, and in a u y o t h e r d c v ices strangely mcxiern in shape. Most cooking was done over an open tire of sticks — though sometimes there was a sort of recess in a heartli. over which a kettle sto^xi. AN hen the destroying foe came upon Kuossos, one carpenter left his kit of tools hidden under a stone slab : and among these \ve tind •' saws, hammers, adze, chisels heavy and light, awls, nails, tiles, and axes." They are of bronze, of course, but in shape they are so like our own that it seems prolwble that this handicraft passed down its skill without a break from the Ckktan Vask oi later ptrioil. slunviusx a tendeuoy to use " conveittioualizeil "orna- ment. Critics believe that such vases in- dieate a jx^riod of dtvav in Cretan art. §971 CRETAN CIVILIZATION 119 earliest European eivilizatiou to the present. One huge eross- cut saw, like our lunibernuurs, was found in a mountain town, — used probably to eut the great trees there into eolunms for the palaees. 97. The dark side of this splendid civilization has to do with its government and the organization of soeiety. Here, Oriental features prevailed. The monarch was absolute ; and a few nobles were the only others who found life easy and pleasant. The masses were far more abject and helpless than in later Greek history. The direct cause of the destruction of Cretiin culture was a series of barbarian invasions ; but the remains show that the best stiiges of art had already passed away. Probably the invasions were so completely successful only be- cause of internal decay, such as usually comes to despotic states after a period of magnilicence. Some excavators think they find evidence that the invaders were assisted by an uprising of the oppressed masses. In any event, fortunately, many of the better features of this early Aegean civilization were adopted by the conquerors and preserved for time to come. For FiRTHKR REvniNc. — SpcciaUy sugcjested : Davis' lieadinijs, Vol. I, No. 32, gives an interesting extract from an account of Cretan remains by one of the discoverers. Bury's Hi story of Greece, 7-11, on Cretan culture ; II-08, on remains near Mycenae (half these pages are given to illustrations) ; 65-69, on the Homeric poems. The student may best omit or disregard Professor Bury's frequent discussions as to whether Cretans or Trojans were -'Greeks." The important thing about each new wave of invasion is not its race, but its kind of culture, and where that culture came from. Additional, for students who wish wider reading: Hawes, Crete the Fore-runmr of G-reece : or Baikie. >'«'a Kimjs of Crete. (Appendix.) CHAPTEU X THE HOMERIC AGE ORIGIN 98. The Achaeans. — l^etween 1500 ami 1200 b.c. a great change took place in Greece. The civilization pictured by Homer differs greatly from the earlier one. It was not a dovclopment from the earlier: it was a separate culture, from a different source. The Mycenaeans and Cretans buried their dead, worshiped ancestors, used no iron, and lived frugally, mainly on fish and vegetable diet. Homer's Greeks burn their dead, adore a sun god, use iron swords, and feast all night mightily on whole roast oxen. So, too, in dress, manners, and personal api)earance, as far as we can tell, the two are widely different. The early Greeks, as their pictures show, were short, dark, black-eyed, like the modern Greeks and like all the other aborigines of southern Europe. But Homer de- scribes his Greeks, or at least his chieftains, as tall, fair, yellow-haired, and blue-eyed. In many ways, too, their civi- lization was ruder and more primitive than the one it replaced. This second civilization of Hellas is ciiWed Achaean, — the name which '^ Homer '^ gives to the Greeks of his time. These Achaeans were jmrt of a vigorous race dwelling in central Europe. They were semibarbarians in that home ; but in some ivai/ they had lear)ied the use of iron. About 1500 u.o., bands of these fair-haired, blue-eyed, ox-eating warriors, drawn by the splendor and riches of the south, broke into Hellas, as barbarians of the north so many times since have l)roken into southern Europe. These mighty-limbed strangers, armed Avith long iron swords, established themselves among the short, 120 §99] ACHAEAN CONQUESTS 121 dark, bronze-weaponed natives, dwelt in their cities, became their chiefs, married their women, and possessed the land. 99. Nature of their Invasion. — The occupation of the land by the invaders was a slow process, involvini,^ unrecorded misery, generation after generation, for the gentler, peace-loving na- tives. An Egyptian inscription of the period declares that " the islands were restless and disturbed," — and indeed the Achaean rovers reached even Egypt in their raids (§ 31). During most of the period, the newcomers merely filtered into Hellas, band by band, seizing a little island, or a valley, at a time. Occasionally, larger forces warred long and desi)erately about some stronghold. Knossos, without defensive walls, fell early before a fleet of sea-rovers. But in walled cities, like Troy and Mycenae, the old civilization lived on for three cen- turies. Much of the time, no doubt, there was peace and intercourse between the Achaeans and such cities ; but finally the invaders mustered in forc^e enough to master even these. Homer's ten-year Trojan War may be based upon one of these closing struggles. The fair-haired Achaeans imposed their language upon the older natives (as conipierors commonly do) ; but, in course of time, their blood was absorbed into that of the more numerous conquered people — as has happened to all northern invaders into southern lands, before and since. The physical character- istics of Homer's Achaeans left no more trace in the later Greeks, than the tall, yellow-haired Goths who conquered Spain and Italy in the fifth century after Christ have left in those countries. The Achaean and Cretan cultures blended more equally than the two races did, — though not till the splendor and most of the art of the older civilization had been destroyed. The change of language explains in part the loss of the art of writing, — which probably had been the possession of only a small class of scribes, in any case. But the common people, we may be sure, clung tenaciously to their old customs and habits of life, and especially to their religion. When next we see the Greek 122 HOMER'S GREECE — THE ACHAEANS [§100 civilization clearly, the old worship of ancestors, of which the Homeric poems contain no mention, had reappeared and mingled with the newer worship of the Achaean gods. Some features of the Achaean age are described below. THE TRIBAL ORGANIZATION 100. The Clan. — In early times the smallest nnit in Greek society was not a family like ours, but a clan (or gens). Each clan was a group of kindred, an enlarged Kind of family. Some clans contained perhaps a score of members ; others contained many score. The nearest descendant of the forefather of the clan, count- ing from oldest son to oldest son, was the clan elder, or " king." Kinship and ivorshij) were the two ties which held a clan to- gether. These two bonds were really one, for the clan religion teas a icorshij) of clan ancestors. If provided with pleasing meals at proper times and invoked with magic formulas (so the belief ran), the ghosts of the ancient clan elders would continue to aid their children. The food was actually meant for the ghost. Milk and wine were poured into a hollow in the ground, while the clan elder spoke sacred formulas inviting the dead to eat.^ This worship was seo-et. The clan tomb was the altar, and the clan elder was the only lawful priest. For a stranger even to see the worship was to defile it ; for him to learn the sacred formulas of the clan worship was to secure power over the gods.^ It followed that mari^icfge became a '' religious " act. The woman renounced her own gods, and was accepted by her husband's gods into their clan. Her father, of course, or some male rela- 1 Travelers describe similar practices among primitive peoples to-day. A Papuan chief prays: "Compassionate Father! Here is food for you. Eat it, and be kind to us! " 2 Primitive races think of words as in some strange way related to the things they stand for (as the spirit to the body). This is one reason for belief in "charms." Those who knew the right words could " charm " the gods to do their will. The Romans, in the days of their power, always kept the real name of their chief god a secret, lest some foe might compel or induce him to surrender the city. §103] THE TRIBAL CITY 123 tive, renounced for her, and gave her to the bridegroom by whose gods she was now protected. After that, she and her future chiklren were in Uiw and in religion no longer " re- lated" to her father and his clan. Legal relationship, and inheritance of property, came through males only. 101. Later Family Worship. — In hke manner in later times, as the families of the clan became distinct units, each came to have its sepa- rate family worship. The Hearth was the family altar. Near it were grouped usually images of the household gods who watched over the family. The father was the priest. Before each meal, he poured out on the Hearth the libation, or food-offering, to the family gods and asked their blessing. The family tomb was near the house, '• so that the sons," says Euripides (a later Greek poet; § 221), ''in entering and leaving their dwelling, might always meet their fathers and invoke them.'' 102. The Tribe. — Long before history began, clans united into larger units. In barbarous society the highest unit is the tribe, which is a group of clans living near together and believ- ing in a common ancentor. In Greece the clan elder of the leading clan was the Ving of the tribe cvid its jrr test. 103. The Tribal City. — Originally a tribe dwelt in several clan villages in the valleys around some cxmvenient hill. On the hilltop was the place of common worship. A ring wall, at a convenient ])art of the slope, easily turned this sacred place into a citadel. In hilly Greece many of these citadels grew up 7}ear together; and so, very early, groups of tribes combined further. Perhaps one of a group would conquer the others and compel them to tear down their separate citadels and to move their temples to its center. This made a city. The chief of the leading tribe then became the priest-king of the city. Sometimes, of course, a tribe grew into the city stage with- out absorbing other tribes ; but, in general, as clans federated into tribes, so tribes federated into cities, either peaceably or through war. The later Athenians had a tradition that in very early times the hero Theseus founded their city by bringing together four tribes living in Attica. 124 IIOMKK'S (JKKM(M^: THK A(MIAKANS |§ll)l 104. The City the Political Unit. — If the cities could have combined into larger units, Greece might have become a '^ nation-state," like modern England or France. But the Greeks, in the time of their glory, never got beyond a city-state. To them the same word meant " city " and "state." A union of cities, by which any of them gave up its complete independence, was repugnant to Greek feeling. One city might hold other cities in subjection ; but it never admitted their people to any hind of citizenship.^ Nor did the subject cities dream of asking such a thing. What they wanted, and would never cease to strive for, was to recover their separate independence. To each Greek, his city was his country. It followed, through nearly all Greek history, that the political- rela- tions of one city with another five miles away were foreign relations, as much as its dealings with the king of Persia. Wars, therefore, were constant and cruel. Greek life was concentrated in small centers. This made it vivid and intense ; but the division of Greek resources between so many hostile centers made that life brief. (JOVKKNMKNT OK TlIK KAKLY (MTY-STATK 105. The King. — 'V]w city had lliroo political (diMueiits — kill";-, coiiiu'il ol" cliit'ls, ami popular assoiuhly. In those wo iiKiy soo tlu' >;tMins of hit or luoiiarchic, aristocratic, aiul (h'lno- cratic ij^ovoriiiiuMits. [Vov tlicsc ttM'ins, sec § Sr>, note.) The kin;;" was /((iilcr in ii-((r, Ji((h((' in /x'ttcc, and priest at all times. His |)owt'r was much limited by custom and by tho two other j)olitical orders. 106. A council of chiefs aidtnl the kinj^, — and cheeked him. 'rhes(> child's wiM't^ (U-is^iually the (dan elders and the members of tlu^ royal family. Si>fi((//t/ \\\e\ wer(>tlie kind's (Mpials; and in (jorcDiniciif he could not do anythiui^ in (hdiance of their wish. If a ruler died without a i::rown-np son, tlie council could (dect a kiii>;-, altlu)U!;h they idiose usually from the royal family. 1 Can tho student see a oonnoction botweou this fact aiul tho " exclusive " character of clan and tribal and city-worship, as described above ? -"Political" lueans " rclatini; to ji-overniucnt." The word must bo used frociuontly in history. In other relations, as in trade and reliuion and cul- ture, tho Greek cities diii not think of one another as fori'i^ners, to any sneii degree as in political matters. § los] (j!()VKKNM)^:nt 125 107. The Assembly. — The, ('oiiniioii I'vooiuow caiiK; i()<,n',t,li('r for worship and for j^^aincs ; and soiik^I iiiics l.li<; kiii^" called tlieiii U>\i;vi\\i'.v, U> lisUui lo plans thai, liad Imhmi adoplc^l by jiini and th(! c-liicds. 'I'Ikmi t 1h^ fi-(?ein(!ii shouted a|)[)r()val or iriuttored disapproval. Th(!y could not start ih;\v uiovemcnits. 'I'herc; were no rc^gular iiie(^tings and few s[)ok(^sui(!n, and tlu; ^-eneral reverence for the chief's made it a daring deed foi' ;i, eonnnon man to brave them. If th(; chi(ds and kin^' a^n-e(}d, it was 9-7(). iThe legends of heroes and demigods, like Hercules, Theseus, and Jason, are retailed for young people charmingly by Hawthorne, Gayley, Guerber, and Kingsley. The stories have no historical value that could be made clear in a book like this. (MIAI"I^I':U' \l FROM TllK ACHAKANS TO THt: FKRSIAN WARS (1000 ftOO BC.) A NKW ACIK 113. TIic Doriiin Coiuiucst. Tlif Acliac.i.ii (•(Ui(|U('sls closed nlxMil rj()(» i;.('. I*'()|- Iwo ('(Mil iii-ics I Icllas \v;is I loiililcd only by tiic usual petty wars Ix'lwceu small stales. Hut, alxuit, 1000 H.c, t.lu' revival ol" eull,ui-e was elieeked a,-;ain lor a. liundicd years by \w\\ dest.ruelive invasions Ironi the north. 'Ph<» new l)a.rbarians called themselves l>(»ri((ns. 'V\\v\ seem to have been el(»sely allied in la.u^ua^'e to the Aehacaus; and lhe\ weic probably nuM'cly a. rcai" ,<;ua,rd which ha.d slopped lor two hundred y(>ars sonu'where in northern Hellas. They e()n(pier(Ml because they had adopted a new and better military ori^'aiii/aiion. The A(diavans I'oui^ht. still in il(uneric lashion, -the ehi(ds in chariots, and their followeis as an unwieldy, ill armed mob. The l>orians intioduced the use of hea\y- a.rmtMl inlantry, with long spears, in rei^iilar array and (dos(^ ranks. I>y \H)() n.c., th(> njovements ol" th(> tribes had ceased. Tlu> eoiKpuM-ini;- l>oria,ns had S(>ttled down, nmiiihi in the /*t'l(>j>(>n- lU'siis. This district, had been the center ol" I h(> Mycenaean and AidiatMU L,dory, but. \\ now lost its leadershii) in culture. When civilization took a new stait in ihdlas, soon altiM- '.JOO, it was I'rom lu^w centers //; A/lii'it (did in Asid Minor. 114. Phoenician Influence. — VV/c ririli.:n ir/iich (lie ArlKtc- itns (UkI l)ori00 u.c). Especially \'M) § iir,) DoicjAN (',iu<)K('i<: i:n iuiiaw^ Uk; iHl;ui(lH iukJ co.'ihI.h of l,h(! Acij^can, did licr l.radcrM IkuIci- with l,li(! iidi;d)it,aid„s (iiiii(di ;i,s lOii^di.sli irad(;rH did l.wo liiiiidi'<^d yi'.ai'H :v^<) wilJi A iiwiican I (idiaiis;, l,<'ifi|)l,in}< l,li«;iii witJi Htraii^(r war(iH of Hiiiall value, ;iiid coiiMUnf^' it, I)(*kI, }^^'UJl of all if Mn*y c.oidd lure c-iirioiiH iiuiidciiH on hojird Micir l)l;u',k Hliips lor disl.;uit, sl;i,V(', iii;i,rl<«'l,M. In rdnrii, liowiivcc, tln'V mi;i(Ic. iMM-iiy ;i,ii iniinl,<'l,. /inf tlui Uvcljl II<'U() ye.'irs, how(;ver, nnu-ely e()nt,inne(j mov(!menl,H vvhieli wer(; .d/eady well under w;i,y ; ;i,nd t,h(^ whole fxtriod, from the I>oi-i;u) eonfjuest, t,o t-lu; ye,ar .000, ean Ix; t,reat,ed ;i,h a unit, (%i I K; 11.;. To that half thousand years helonj^ed six j^reat movemftnts. (i) The Hellenes awoke to a feelin;', that they were one people as compared with other peoples, (z) They extended JIelleni<; culture widely hy coloniza tion. (3) The system of K^jvernment everywhere underwent ^reat change. (4) Sparta became a great military power, whose leadership in war the other Greek states were willing to recognize. (5) Athens became a democracy. (6) A great intellectual development appeared, manifested in architecture, painting, sculpture, poetry, and philosophy. Each of the six imwcincnln will he described briejty. i:V2 IIKLLAS FKOM KUH) TO 500 H.(\ [§116 I. INirV OK FKKLINCI 116. Greeks came to think of all Hellenes as one race, compariHl with otlior i)tH)plcs — in spito of many siibilivisioiis aiuoiig MuMns(»lvt\s, Tlu' ///(/(/ (loos not inako it cUsir whotlior Homer looki'il ii|)oii tlu' Trojans as (Jri'cks or not. AppariMit ly ho oaroil litth' alH)ut tho qnostion. l''ivo hunilrtnl yoars hitor snch a (|iiostion wonUl ha\'o boon ^ a. iirst, oonsichM-ation to ovory (J rook. Tlio (1 rooks had not. hooonio ono nation: tliat. is, thoy had not ottiuo nnilor tlio samo i;'ovornnuMit. Ihit thoy had oonio t.o boliovo in a kinshij) with oach otluM-, to taki^ })ri(h* in thoir oonnnon civili/at ion, and to sot. tliomsolvt>s apart from tlio rost. ol' tho woi-hl. Tho tliroo ohiof l'orot>s wluoli had created this onont'ss of tocIinL;- wiMt* /niK/iiai/c, literature, and tho (Mfiinpian relUfion, witli its ganios and ora.oh»s. a. The (freeks ((iKlerstaod etteJt other's dialeets, wliih' tlio mon t)f otlior spotu'll about tluMii tlu>y oallod •• Harbai'ians," or babblers {Iii(r'-lH(r-i>i). This likeness i>j'lantjiui(fe nuule it jH)ssihle for oil (ireeks to possess the same literature. Tho poiMiis of I lonior wort* smiLC and rooit(ul in t>vory villa^'o for cent iirios ; and tho nnivorsal priih* in Homer, and in tho i^lorios of the later literature, lia.d muoh to do in binding the (i reeks into ono people. />. The poets inrented a st/steni of relationship. The first inliabitant of Hellas, they said, was a certain Hellen, who had three sons, Aeolns, Dorns, and Xntlius. Xnthns became the father of Aehaens and Ion. At'olns, Dorns, Aohaeus, and lou \ver(> th(» ancestors of all lloUonos, — in the four great divi- sions, Aeolians, Dorians, Achaeans, and loniaiis. This st/stem of fables math' it easier for the Greeks to heliere themselves con- neeteil bij blood. e. Throe speoial features of the (Mympiau religion lieli)ed to bind (Greeks together, — tho Paiihellenic Games, the Delphic Oracle A \n\ tho various Aniphictt/onies {'^i'^i 117, IIS, 110). 117. The Panhellenic Games. — To the great festivals of some of the gods, men Hooked from all Hollas. This was especially §117] ONKNKSS OF CMJLTIIIUO I :\:\ true of tlic, Ohim/pir, ^!iiii(;s., TlniHO W(;r(j c(i](;hrated ea(;li fouiUi year at Olynipia, in Klis, in honor ol Z(mis. 'JMk; eontc^sts con- sisted of foot races, (;liariot raeni<;s tliey wei-(i lionorcd wilh iiiseiiptions and RUINH OF THK ENTItANrK H) TMK STAJJlUIVf {(llldctlc Jlcld) A'l OlVMI'/A. statues. All (irc^iiks, and only th(^y, could compete; in l*an- hellenic games. There was a strong feeling tliat all the wars between Oreek states should be suspended during the festival. To these games came merchants, to secure the best maiket for rare wares. Heralds proclaimed treaties there — as the best way to make them known through all Ilellas. l^oets, orators, and artists gathered there; and gradually the intellectual con- tests and exhibitions became the most important feature of the meeting. The oration or poem or statue which was praised 134 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO r>00 B.C. [§118 at Olympia had ihmhmvihI th(> a{)i)ri)v.il of the most intt'lligeiit judges that could he brought togvthor auywluuT \u the worki. These intellectual contests, howovor, did not boconio part of the sacred games. Nor was any prize given to the winner. — The four-year periods between the Olympic games were called Oli/mpiails. All events Avere dated from what was believetl to be the lirst recorded Olympiad, beginning in 77(1 n.o. An admirable account of the Olympic Games is given in Davis' Iieadimjs, Vol. I, No. 44. Less famons, though by no nutans without importance, were the Panhellenic games held at other places and at iliiferent intiTvals. 118. The Delphic Oracle- — Apollo, the sun god, Avas also the god of prophecy. Oue of his chief temples was at IVlphi, far up the slopes of JNlount rarnassus, amiil wild aud rugged scenery. From a tissure in the ground, within the temple, volcanic gases poured forth. A priestess would, when desired, inhale the gas until she ])assed into a trance (or seemed to do so) ; and, while in this state, she was supiH)sed to see into the future, by the aid of the god. The ailricc of this "or(<(7c" was sought 1)1/ men and bi/ goreDinwnts throughout all Hellas. (See further iu Davis' Readiugs, Vol. I, Nos. 41— 4o.) 119. Amphictyonies. — There was an ancient league of Greek tribes to protect the temple at Delphi. This was known as the Amphictyouic League (league of "dwellers-round-about"). Smaller amphictyonies, for the protection of other temples, were common in Greece. In early Greek history, they were the only hint of a movement toward a union of states. All these leagues, it is true, were strictly religious in purpose, and not at all like jiotitical unions. The Delphic Amiductyony, however, did in a way represent the whole Greek people. All important states sent delegates to its " Goum-il," which held regular meetings; and every division of the Greek race felt that it had a share in the oracle and in its League. 120. Dorians and lonians. — At the cost of some digression, this is the best place to note that through all later Greek history (after 6ooB.c.) the two leading races were the Dorians and the lonians. (See § 1 16 &, above.) §1211 EXJ^ANSION AND COLONIZATION 135 By 600 B.C. the Dorians had their chief strength in the Peloponnesus, while the lonians held Attica and most of the islands of the Aegean. The lonians seem to have been descendants of the original inhabitants of Greece, mixed with tribes of the Achaean invasion. Athens was the leading city of the lonians. The Athenians were sea- farers and traders ; they preferred a democratic government ; they were open to new ideas — '' always seeking some new thing " ; and they were interested in art and literature. Sparta was the leading city of the Dorians. The Spartans were a military settlement of conquerors, in a fertile valley, organized for defense and ruling over slave tillers of the soil. They were warriors, not traders; aristocratic, not democratic; conservative, not progressive; practical, not artistic. Some writers used to exi)lain the difffirencos b(itween Athens and Sparta on th(; ground of race, and toaoh that all lonians were naturally demo- cratic and prof^ressive, while all Dorians were naturally aristocratic and C(mH(;rvative. Hut it lias Vxjen pointed out that Dorian colonies in Italy and Sicily Clikc Syracu.sc) r(!Scrnl)lod Athens more than they did Spaita. Their physical snrroundiiKjH vmre more like tJione of Athens, also. To-day scholars lo(jk with suspicion upon all attempts to explain differences in civilization on the f^roimd of inborn r;u;(; tfuidcncics. For Sparta and Athens, the (ixplanation certainly is found mainly in the difference in physical surround inj^s. II. KXI'ANSION BY COLONIZATION 121. First Period. — While Or<^ok civilization was becoming morci united in feeling, it was becoming more scattered in space. The old tribes which the Dorians drove out of the Peloponnesus jostled other trilx'-s into motion all over Greece, and some of the fugitives carried the seeds of Oreek culture more widely than before along the coasts of the Aegean. This period of colonization lasted about a century, from 1000 to 900 B.C. Its most important fact was the Ilellenizing of the western coast of Asia Minor. Some of this district had been Greek before ; l>ut now large reinforcements arrived from the main Greek peninsula, and all non-Hellenic tribes were subdued or driven out. Large bodies of Ionian refugees from the Peloponnesus had sought refuge in Ionian Attica. I^ut Attica could not supjjort them all ; and soon they began to 136 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§ 122 cross the sea to Asia Minor. There they established them- selves in twelve great cities, of which the most important were Miletus and Ephesus. The whole middle district of that coast took the name Ionia, and was united in an amphictyony. 122. Second Period. — A century later, there began a still wider colonizing movement, which went on for two hundred years (800-600 b.c), doubling the area of Hellas and spread- ing it far outside the old Aegean home. The cause this time was not war. Greek cities were growing anxious to seize the Mediterranean commerce from the Phoenicians. The new colo- nies were founded largely for trading stations. Thus Miletus sent colony after colony to the north shore of the Black Sea, to control the corn trade there. Sixty Greek towns fringed that sea and its straits. The one city of Chalcis, in Euboea, planted thirty-two colonies on the Thracian coast, to secure the gold and silver mines of that region. On the west, Sicily became almost wholly Greek, and southern Italy took the proud name of Magna Graecia (Great Greece). In- deed, settlements were sown from end to end of the Mediter- ranean. Among the more important of the colonies were Syracuse in Sicily, Tarentuni, Sybaris, and Croton in Italy, Corcyra near the mouth of the Adriatic, Massilia (Marseilles) in Gaul, Olynthus in Thrace, Cyrene in Africa, Byzantium at the Black Sea's mouth, and Nancratis in Egypt (§ 32).^ 123. Method of Founding Colonies. — Many motives besides the commercial assisted this movement. Sometimes a city found its population growing too fast for its grain supply. Often there was danger of class struggles, so that it seemed well to get rid of the more adventurous of the poorer citizens. Perhaps some daring youth of a noble family longed for a more active life than he found at home, and was glad to become the head of a new settlement on a distant frontier. In any case the oracle at Delphi was first consulted. If the reply was favorable, announcements were made and volunteers 1 Map study : on outline maps, or on the board, locate the districts and cities mentioned in §§ 121 and 122. § 124] POLITICAL REVOLUTIONS 137 were ^'athered for the exfxiditioii. The mother city always ^ave tlie sac-red lire for the new city lieartli, and appointed tiie "founder." Tliis "founder" (;Ht,ahIish(Ml tlie new settlement with religious rites and distributed the inhal)itants, who thronged in from all sides, into arfJJla'dl tribes and clans. KuiNH OK IHK A'lHLicnr l''iKM) AT J)KiJ'in. Sccddd oiily to llio (Olympic Games, and similar to Ihcin, was tlu; Festival at Delphi in honor of Apollo. The coloniats ceased to he eitizciin of their old home, and the new city enjoyed complete iiidej)endenee. The colony recogni/ed a religious connection witli its "metropolis" (mother city), and of course tlier*; were often strong bonds of friendship between the two; but there was no political union between them — until Athens invented a new form of colony which will be described later (§ 148). III. (:iIAN(iKS IN GOVERNMENT 124. The Kings overthrown by Oligarchies. — V>etween 1000 and 500 n.c. the " kings " disa[)ijearcd from every Greek city i:>S IlKLLAS l-'KOM 1000 TO :.00 1V(\ |§ \'2r> o\t't»j>l Sp;ir(a ami .\r;;os. ami cww in lln>si> rititvs \\\r\ h^sl nuKst, of lluMi' old po\V(M-. The ('lian_L;<> was {\\v work ol llir iu»l>K's ; aiul (hat class dividiul tlu> ii>val j»o\vim- amoiiiL;- 1 luMusrl V(\s. iMonarcliios Ljavt' way io (>li_i;arc'lii(\s. A HoMKM-ic kin<;\ \V(> have s(^mi, luid llutM" kinds iA' diilit\s : lu> was /r olliiu' ol' war chii^t' could U»ast safely ho Ud't to the accident of birth. .\ccordini;ly t ho nc^hh^s iook away this part o\' \\\o kind's duties lirst, tnrnini; it dver to ollicers nvIumu they elected I'roui aunMii;- I heu>sel\ t*s. 'I'hen, as jiulicial work ini'n\is(>d with th(« growth iA' city life, sptH'ial indt;"(*s wtM'c t'hostMi to lak(> o\cv that part (»f the kin;;"s work. 'Phi* pri(\stly dii^nity was connect imI most closely with family d(>scent (^§§ 101, lO'JV thiMtd'orc il was hd't lon,L;i\st a. uiatltM- o\' inheritanc(\ Tliis, IhtMi, was the utMUM-al onhn- o\' the t'hans;"es by whit'h the ndt' o/' o//c nmii hcrdiiK the nilv of '- (lie h/r." 'Vhc |H'ocess was gradual; \\\o means and ot-i'asion vari«>d. .\ contivst be- tw»>en (wo rivals for (lu» (hrone, or tht> dy in^- out oi' a royal line, or a wi^ik kin>;- ov a minor, any oi' t hes(> conditions madi* i( easy for \\\c nibbles (o encroach uj^on the n^yal power. 125. Olijiarchies overthrown by Tyrjints. (>ri,!.;inally. (lu^ aris- (i>cratic clennMit ci>nsisted o\' tin* council of clan ehhM's (^i l(^(>), but with tim«> it had b(>couu> uunlilied in man\ ways. Some- tinu^s lh(> faniilies o\' a lew i;rt»at chiefs had co\\\o to ov(M'- sluidow \\\o \vs\. 1 u (»t luM- plact^s, i^roups o( con(iu«MMnj; launlu>s ruled t luMlesctMidant s ot t he con(puM'«>d. SouuMinu\s, juMhaps, W(\ilth ht'ljud to draw Iht^ lin(> IhMwimmi 'Mht> lew " and "the many." \l all events, (hi ;v teas in (ill (tnu/x- (•/(iis d shdrp line bt'twt'cn //CO (7(fNN(N, one callinu- itself " the lew." •* the L;-ood." "(he n(4^h> " ; and am>ther t'allctl by tlu>st> "the many." "tlu* bad," " the base." "The fi>w " had succ«Hnled (lu* kiui;s. "The many" were iipprossod and misi^-ovtMaunl. ami (hey b(\uan toi'lamor forridi(»f. Tlu>y wtM-«» \oo ignorant as yi>t to uuiintain themselv(>s against. (In* in((^llii;i»n( and bt^tttM- united " b^v " ; but tlu^ way was proparod for thorn by Mio " (.yran(s" (-j lL*(i). § I'JC.I I'OLITKAL ICMVOLirriONS |:{<) Why (l()(;s it inatltM who coiitiolH Ww ^^ovornmciit ? Tho Mtu(h-nt should Ix'^iti to think upon tins inattct. (lOvctniiKMit is not a matti^r of dij^nity mainly, but a very practical matter. It touches our daily life very closely. In one of our States, for many years past, a certain railroad has controlled the legislature. Therefore it has escaped taxation, for the most part, upon its immense wealth ; and every poor man in the State has had to pay unduly hi^'.h taxes in consecjuence, leaving', less moii(;y for his children's shoes and books. The same railroad has been permitted to charRe exorbitant rates on freight. Every farmer has received too little for his wheat ; and every citizen has paid too much for Hour. So for forty years, in our own day and country, bij!, business inter(!sts have striven constantly to own congress and le)i;islatures and judges and ^ov- ernors, so as to get or keep monopolies or tariff advantaKcs or otljor special privile^eH, by which they have heaped up riches which, in the louK run, have been drawn from the homes of the working people. In early society, class distinct ions are drawn more sharply, and class rule was even more tyrannical. " Tin; few " ar(! usually wiser than " the many " ; but all history proves that class rubr by " the j;oo(l " is sure to be a selhsh, bad rule. 126. "Tyrants" pave the Way for Democracies. lU'Wnc. nOO ii.c, every city in I, lie (irccU |)('iiiiisiil;i, ('xc.*'.!)!, S|»;i,rl-;i, li;ul ils l,yr;iiil,, or had had one. Iiil.hc oiil.Iyin;^' pa,rl,H ol" lhdht,.s, t.yraiil-M were ('(immoii l.hroiif^di la,t,('i- hisl.ory a,ls(), hiif, hy t,he year r)()() iJicy ha.d disappeared lr(»iii I, he iiiaJii pciiiniada,; ami HO t/hc- U(u> (U'iihiri<'s J'r(nn, 7(M) h> FtOO /;.r. (trc .sanicfimrs nt.llcd. Ilia " Aut, ;irhit,ra.ry nd(; wa,H haicrid t,o l.he (ir<'(d() t-ln; iianH;. \\\\\, aX tJic; worHt tJie t,yrants seom to lia.vcr Ixuui a n(MM;H,sary evil, t,o bi-eak down l,lie ^reat,(;r evil of the HelCiHli oli^'arcdiie.s. Many lyraiil.s were K<*'"''''>( id niler-H, ])uildin»; pnhlie works, developing' tra,(le, |)a,1,roni/in^' a,rt a,nd liUu'atnrc. ; but, t,iieir iiia,in vaJne in hisl,ory was this : llu'ij paved the, way for de/rnocrarj/ . 140 ITELLAS FUOAT 1000 TO f.OO R.C. (§ 127 Soinotinies a tyrant had Ihhmi an ambitious noble ; sometimes a man of the people, by birth. In either case, he usnally avou his mastery by coming forward, in some crisis of civil strife, as the chami)ion of "the many." When he had made himself tyrant of his city, he surrounded himself with paid soldiers ; but he sought also to keep the favor of the masses, who had helped him to the throne. The nobles he could not conciliate. These he burdened with taxes, oppressed, exiled, and murdered. The story goes that Periander, tyrant of (\)rinlh, sent to the tyrant of Miletus to ask his advice in government. The Mile- sian took the nu^ssenger through a grain field, striking off the linest and tallest ea,rs as they walked, and sent him l)ack with- out other answer. Thus when the tyrants themselves were overthrown, democ- racy had a chance. The nobles were weaker than before, and the people had gained contidence. In the Ionian cities, the next step Avas usually a denu)cratic government. In Dorian parts of Greece, more connnonly there followed an aristocracy. But this was always much broader, and less objectionable, than the older oligarchies. The tyrants had done their work effectively.^ This, then, was the general order of change : the kings give way to oligarchies ; the oligarchies are overthrown by tyrants ; and the tyrants, unintentionally, prepare the way for the rule of the people. We shall now trace the changes, with more detail, in the two leading cities of Hellas, — Sparta and Athens. The first had less change than any other city. The second led the movement. IV. KISE OF SPAHTA TO MILITAHY HEADSHIP 127. Changes in Early Sparta. — The invading Dorians founded many petty states in the reloiwnnesus. For a time one of the weakest of these was Sparta. Her territory covered only a lExKRCiSK. — Contrast the "tyrants" with the HonuM-ic kings, — as to origin of power; as to liinitatit)n by custom aiul public oi)iiiion ; us to security in their positions. § 12H] SPARTA'S IIKADSIIIP 141 few square miles. It was slml off iioiii \.\nt sea, and it was surrounded by powerful nei^lil)()rs. The lat(;r Sj)artans attril)iitefore 700, th(!y had subducid all Laconia; b(d"or(! OoO, M('ss(;nia also ; while tin; other states of the INdo- poiiiicsus, (!X(M'pt h()s1,il(! Ar}^^)s, had be<;()nie tlicir alliens. 128. Government. — Si)arta had two kijKjH. An old hi^^md explained this peculiar arran^^(;m(^nt as due to the birth of twin princes. At;ill events in this city the; royal pow(M' was weaken(}d by division, and so tin; nobh^s wei-(i less t(im])ted to al)olish it. Ther(! was also a Smale of thirty eld(u-s. In practice, this body was the most impoit.ant j)art of the ^overnnKuit. The kinjLjs held two of tin; seals, and the peoi)le elected the twenty- eight other senators. No one luidcr sixty years of ;i^(! could b(! chosen. TIk; eaudidates wctro l(!d thi'ou^li llie Assernbiy in turn, and as each ])asHed, tlu; p(!0[jle sliotited. .Iud^ coiilrol liis movciiuMits, and even to nrrosl, l)ini and |Mil him lo d*>alli. in practice, (he I'Jp/iorsdcfcd as t/n' scrr- (t/ifs oj' (he KSi'iKth', wliieli indeed really nnitrollcil the noniina- tions and eleetions ol' thes(> oHieers. To tho Greeks, all delei^ation of power, even to officers elected for short terms, seemed undemocratic. They would not have called our government by President, Congress, and Supreme Court a democracy at all. Our government is sometimes called a " representative democracy." To the Greeks, democracy always meant " direct democracy," — a gov- ernment in which each freeman took somewhat the same part that a member of Congress does witli us — a system such tliat each citizen voted, not occasionally, to elect representatives, but constantly, on all matters of importance, — which matters he might also discuss in the ruling Assembly of his city. Even one of our State governments with the '* initiative " and " referendum " would have seemed to the Greek a very mild sort of " direct democracy." By his standard, Sparta was exceedingly aristocratic. 129. Classes in Laconia. - ^\orooyo\\ the SpartiOis a}< a frho/c in re a ndimj i'li(ss in (he midst oJ' SKhjccts riii/it or (rn times tJnir }tiinih('r. 'V\n'\ were siiuplv ;» eaniiioi' some nine thousand eon- qiuu'Di's (wilh t.heir I'annlitvs) livini;' undtM- ai-ms in t lieir unwalled city. 'Plu\v wiM-e wholly Liiven to eamj) life. 'rh(\v had takt>n to themselvi>s tht> most fertile lands in iiai'onia, hut they did no work. l''aeh man's land was tilled by eiMlain slaves, or .11 dots. The Helots nundxM'ed lour or livt* to one Spartan. They wtM'ii slaves, not to individual Sj)artans. hut to the ^overnnuMd. Besides tillini;- the Spartan lands, they lurnished li>;ht-armed t.roops in war; hut they were a constant dan«;-er. A secret. ]>olic(> of active Spartan youth busied itself in detecting" plots anions' tluMU, and sonuMimes carried out secret massacre's c>f tho more intelli^-ent. and andut ions slaves. IndetMl \l WAS liticful for any Spartan to kill a Ibdot with- out, trial; and sometimes crowds of iltdots vanished mysteri- ously wlitMi thtur numbers thre;itcn(Hl Sj^artan safety. On one occasion, in the great struggle with Athens in tho fifth ecu- § \M)\ si»AirrA's iiKADsiiii' 1 1;5 l.iiry (§§ IDli IT.), Mm' S|.:iit-:ui,s ,<;:ivr Mic 1 Idols Iic:i,vy iinnor, bill, ;i.rt(»rW{ir(l 1.1m\V Ik'coiiic tcri-ilicd ;il, I, lie possible ('oiis<'- (ju(!n('.(\s. 'IMiucydidcs (iJic (Jrcck liisloriaii of lliai pcriodj tcdls liovv Ui(iy iiKil \]\v (la,n^^(M- : "'I'licy proclaiiiUMl l.lijil. a .snicciUoii would he. madd of tlioH(i llclol.s who (tlMiiiKMl to hav(! rciuhu-cd i\u\ boHt H(!rvi(!(i to llic, Spartaim in the w;ir, ;i,ii(l pi'omi.scd tliciM liberty. Tho annoimcduiciit w;i,.s intended to t(!Ht tlicni : it was thought that those ainonj; them who w(!re I'oreino.st in aHHci'tinj; their Treedom would \ni inoKt hi^h-Kpiiite,d and most likely to rise aj^aiiist their masters. So [the Sp;M't;Mis| selneted about two thousjuid, who wens crowned with garlands, and went in proe(!Ssion round tiie tciinples. They [the llclots] were supposed to liavc^ I'ceeived their lil)ei'ty, friit nof, hniij afterwards the S/Kirfaiis put fhcni, nil onf, of Uw ntdy^ MircMi or I'oiir l,o one Spa,rl,an ; and they i'lirnisbc^d, in larj.((! nn^asiire, I.Ik^ liea,vy-a,nne(l soldiers of \\u\ S|>a,rlan army. The l*iplioi's could piil, Mieiii l.o death withoiil; trial, but. they seem, a,s a iMile, to ba,v(; bec^n wtdi treated and W(dl eoiitenl,. Thus till', inha.bitants of Laconia \wi\Y(\ of thr('(^ (dasses : a, aniall riili luj hod// of inarriors, lirivfj in one (•ciilni/ scll/cnwiil ; a, laiyc. class of criwl/i/ //-('((led, rural serfs, lo lilt I he soil for these aristor/ratic. soldiers ; (mother lanjc ehtss of weU-trcatcd suhje<-ts, — town-didellcTs^ — iriJio, hoidc/vcr, h.ad no share, in the Spartan govcrtmicnt. 130. "Spartan Discipline." — Spai'ta kept its ma,stery in La- conia l)y sle(!pless vi^ila,nene (§ 108). Itideeil, (H)iisoliilat.ii)n had been carried eviMi farther than with Sparta. Athens was the home of all the free inhabitants of Attiea, not merely the cump of one rnlin;;- tribe. 133. Favorable Conditions. — .\ttii';i is ono ol" the inosi t>asily (IoIoiuUhI districts of all (Jnu'co — a,i;ainst. any force not. abso- liittdy ovi^rwhtdming. It is a. pcninsuUi; and on the two land sides, wh(M-c it borders IMeujaris and Hoeotia, it is rtMidu'd oidy tlironi,d\ fairly ditlicult passes. These facts explain, in part, why Attiea was the oiu^ spot of sonthern (Jreeei* not overrnn by conquerors at thi' time of the Dorian mi«,M'ation. Natnrally, it becanu' a refuL^c lor Ionian (dans driven from the reloi»onn{>sns. The ritdiest ami stroni;'est of these were adopted into the trilu^s of Attica.. Others becaint^ dependaids. The fretpient and peacefid introduction of new blood helpt>d to make the peopli^ ]u-oi;'ressive ami oj»en to outside iidluence. 134. Decline of the Homeric Kingship. — liiUt> other (!rt(dv cities, .\thens lost her kin^s in the dim eeiduries btd'ore w(^ have any real history. 'IMie nobles be^an to rt^strict the royal power alH)ut 1000 n.c. The kini;'s titU' had been /ximj-drrhoii. Aloni;\side the kin«;-archon the nobles first set up, from anu)ng themselves, a fritr-drchon {/lolciiKtrch). 'I'luMi they ereaied a cliic/-(trch(>ii, usually called (he Archoii, to act as judi;"e aiul as chief executive of the i;overnmeid.. AfttM- that, the kini;--archon was only the city-priest. In 751*, the otHi'e was made elective, for ten-year terms. Vov some tinu» lonj^'er the kini^-archon was always (diosen from the old royal family; but tinally the ollice was thrown open to any noble. At last, in OSl* n.c, the arelions W(>re all made anmial otHcers, and tlie number was increased to iunt>, because of the p:rowinix judicial work. 135. Rule by the Nobles. — I'he nobles wen^ known as Eupa- trids (well-born). They were tlie chiefs of the numerous elans in Attica. Their council was called the Areopagus, from the § \:W] lUSK OF DEMOCRACY AT ATIIMNS M7 name ol' i\\o. Iiill wh(;ro it irK^t TIk; An!()j>a|,niH chose; Uk; archons (i'loin ii()l)I(\s, oi cirnvHc), and ruled Attica. 'Vho other tril)(!Sin(Mi h;ul (!V(mi 1(!Ss iiilliiciicc iJiiui in Homeric tini(\s. 77i('i/ no /oiif/cr Inul a /x/filiad As.Hnnhl//. 136. Economic' Oppression. — The; nol)l(;s tyraiiiiizesides tin; ^n-eat landloi-ds and tluMr tenants, there was a class of smaJl iiu-mcu-s owning' then- own la.nds ; bnt ofUui tlnrsr; men also wcr(3 obliged to l)()rrow of the nobhis. In eonse- cpKiiice, many of them pass(ul into the condition of tenants. Aristotle (a later ({I'cek writer j says: — " TIk! poor with tlioir wivoH arxl c]iiI(h-(Mi wcirc tlio vory bondMmcii of Mk; rich, who naimid th(;in Sixth-mon, hociauw! it waH for this wa^c; they tilled the land. The entire land was in the hands of a i<;w. It th(! poor failed to pay their rents tJKjy wc.ro liable to be haled into Klav(!ry. . . . They were diseontented also with ev(!ry other f(!atiu-(! of the,ir lot, for, to sftc-ak generally, thnj lui,(l, no hIuwc in. ifuyUunf/.'" — fJon.sfUn/j'on of AUwus, 'Z. 137. The first advance was to base political power in part upon wealth. 'I'he snjircMnaey of the nobh'S ha,d i-ested larg<'ly on their snperiority in wai-. 'I'h(;y (;om[)os(;d tin; "kni^dits," or heavy-armed cavalry oi' Attica, in comparison with this cav- alry, the early foot soldiery was only a lii^dit-armed mob. ]>nt, before 050, the Athenians adopted the Dorian |)lan of a lieavy- armed infantry (" hoj^lites "), with shif;ar. Ilia Hcrriojl ranks of thin infanf/n/ jyrovMl abla to repel cavalry. The importance of the nobles in war dc'clined, and there followed some decrease in their political power. 1 '*Eeononrii(;" meariH " with refereiiee to f)rop(',rty," or " with refcirence to tlu! way of ^ottiri;; a livinj^." 'I'he wor*! must not hrc divided into four classes, acrordiiK/ to their ycarltf iiicomc from land} The iirst and second chisses (the richest oni's) were obliged to serve as knights, or cavalry. Doubtless at first these were all nobles. The third class were to arm themselves as hoplites. The fourth class were called into the Held less often, and only as light-armed troops. This " census " was designed. only to regulate aerviee in the (irnn/, but it luH^anm a basis for the distrihidion of pre bitter; and, at length, ambitious adventurers b(\gan to try to overthrow the oligarchy and make themselves tyrants. One young conspirator, Cylon, with his forces, actually seized the Acropolis, the citadel of Athens. The nobles rallied, and Cylon was deft^ated ; but the ruling oligarchy had received a fright, aiul they now made a great concession ($ \IV.)). (JUKKK S( 1 5(X)-iueasuro moii, o(XViu(>asun» mon, 'jeO-nioasuro nuMi, and thoso wlioso incoino was loss tlian '-HK) inoasnros of wheat. (Tho (inn'k " incasurc " was a little nioro than half a bushol.) §140] ItlSK OF DMMOC^JUCY AT ATIIKNS 149 139. Draco: Written Laws. — UiiMl ()21 i{.(;., Ailicniiui hiw had Imm'ii ;i m;iU,(U' ol" aiirit'id ciihIoih. It, was iiofc wriU,(Ui down, and imicli of it was known only to Uio nobles. All ju(l;;(\s, of (joiirse, W(!n5 nol)l(^s ; and they abnsiMl IIkml- |)ow(m- in ordctr to favor iiicirown class. 'I'licndon^ tin; Al,li(U»ians clamored lor a written code. They did not ask y(^l, lor //rw laws, hut oidy that tho old laws nii^lit In; (hdinitcdy IIxcmI and known to a,ll. The nobles liad lon^' n^sisted this (hunanch Uut in (llil, after tlu^ attempt of (lylon, they conscMited that I)rl(l for Iwo years, r>il/ und ,'>!K! /.'.('. 141. The '' Shaking-off of Burdens/' — The lirsi year Solon swi'pt away tH'onomit' m'ils. 'r/ircc measures ri(jh(ed past icrontjs : — «. The old tenants wim-o i^iviMi lull ownership of the lands which they had I'ornicrly cnltivaled lor the nobles/ h. All debts were eaneeled so as to j;iv(^ a- new start. c. AH Athenians in shivery in Attica, were iVeecL VVro ntcasKrcs aiinctl to prevent a ret urn ({fold erils: — (/. It was made illei'al to reduce Athenians to slavery. e. To own more than a certain (]uantit,y ot hind was tor- bidden. In later times the whole people ceh^bralcd these acts of Solon each year by a '' Festival of the Shakini;--olT ol' Ihirdens." 142. Political Reform. — Thesi^u-onomic changes resulted in political chanu-e, since })olitica.l i)ower was already based upon landed })ro})erty. Up to the time of Solon, the nobles had owned most of the land. I hit now much of it. had been / land. Many merchants now rose into tlu> lirst class, whiles many nobles sank into other classes. Soon, the Kupatrid name disappeared. Moreover, in the se(u>nd year of Ins Archonship, Solon intw- diiceil direct political chan(fes (chich wetd fur totrctrd niitking Athens it ilentocrdcif. a. .^1 iSe)Hde ira,s created, to })rei)are nu^asures for the Assem- bly to act upon. The nuMubers were chosen each year hi/ lot,- so that neither wealth nor birth I'ould control the election. This new part of the i^overnmeiit becanu^ tlu' (jiiidincf ])art. b. The Atisemblf/ (§ lo7) was enlarged both as to size and 1 In one of his pooins, Solon spoalvs of " froinnj? tho cusljivod land," by re- niovinjj: tho stono pillars which liad niarktxt llio nobles' ownorsiiip. '^ Tho lot in olootions was rouanh'd as an appoal to tlu^ uods, and its uso was aocouipaniod by ndi.i;ious saoriticos and by prayer. 'Tho early Puritans in New Euf^land sometimes used tho lot in a similar way. §1451 RISK OW DKMOCKACV AT ATIIKNS 151 power. Thn 'M'ourtli (^lasH " (li^'lil.-aniHMl sol(li(;i-y) w(;i-(! ;i(l- iriiUJMl to voic, ill it- — tlioii^'li Ui<'y w(!r»! not allowed i,o hold offi-CO of iiiiy kind. 'I'liis (;nl;i,r^(Ml Asscinldy ol' ;iJl AUi<'iii:i,ii tril)- ple in virtual slav(;i-y. In 5f/'j Ii.(J., wh(;n Solon laid down his ofIi(;c5, luiarly all Ath constitution of Solon, though a great advance toward democracy, had left the (jorernnioit still larijeli/ i)i the hands of the rich. The poorest '' class " {n'hich contaitied at least half of § 151] RISE OF DEMOCRACY AT ATHENS 155 all the citizens) could not hold offio(;; arid tin; Assoinbly had not learned how to use its new powers. b. The jealousy between tlic; IMain, tlie Shore, and the Mountain (§ 145) still caused ^reat (jonfusion. c. All v()tii)<^ was by clans ; and thei-c was strong temptation for each clan merely to rally around its own chief. d. There was a V)itter jealousy between tin? Athenian tribes- men (the citizens) and a lar<^ut in the ninety yeai's between Solon and Clisthenes, the growing trade of Athens Juul drawn many aliens there. These men were enterprising and somc^times wealthy; but though they lived in the city, they had no share in it. No alien could vote or hold office, or siw in a law court (except through the favor of some citizen), or take part in a religious festival, or marry an Athenian, or even own land in Attica. The city might find it worth while to i>rotect his property, in order to attract other strangers; but he iiad no secnire rights. Nor coiUd his son, or his sort's son,, or any lat(>r descendant acquire any rights merely by continuing to live in, Athens. A like condition was found in other Greek cities; but rarely were the aliens so large or so wealthy a class as in commercial Athens. Discontent might at any moment make them a danger. Clisthenes' plan was to take them into the state, and so make them strengthen it. 151. Geographical Tribes. — Clisthenes began his vmrk by marking off Attica into a hundred divisions, called demes. Each citizen was enrolled in one of these, and his son after him. Membership in a clan had always been the proof of citizenship. Now that proof was to be found in this deme-enrollment. The hundred demes were distributed among ten " tribes," or wards ; but the ten demes of each tribe were not located close together. Tliey were scattered as widely as possible, so as to in- clude different interests. Voting in the Assembly was no longer by the old blood tribes, but by these ten new " territorial " 156 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§ 152 tribes. By this one device, Clistlienes remedied three of the four great evils of the time (?>, c, d^ in § 149). (1) A clan could no longer act as a unit, since its members made parts, perhaps, of several "tribes." So the influence of the clan chiefs declined. (2) IVEen of the Shore and of the ]\lountain often found themselves united in the same tribe, and the old factions died out. (o) While Clistlienes was distribut- ing citizens among the new geographical units, he seized the chance to enroll the )io)(-c(tizenft also in the demes. Thus, fresh, progressive influences were again a(lo})ted into Athenian life. It must not be supposed, however, that aliens continued to gain ad- mission in the future, as with us, by easy naturalization. The act of Clisthenes applied only to those then in Athens, and to their descendants. In a few years another alien class grew up, with all the old disadvantages. 152. The Assembly kept its old powers, and gained new oiu^s. It began to deal with foreign affairs, taxation, and the details of campaigns. It no longer conflned itself to proposals from the " Council of Five Hundred " (the new name for the Senate). Any citizen could move amendments or introduce new business. The Assembly now elected ten ^'generals'' yearly, who took over most of the old authority of the archons. These new arrangements corrected much of the first evil noted in § 149. The ^'fourth class " of citizens was still not eligible to office. Otherwise, Athens had become a democracy. To be sure, it took some time for the Assembly to realize its full power and to learn how to control its various agents ; but its rise to supreme authority was now only a nuitter of natural growth. Solon and Clisthenes were the two men who stood foremost in the great work of putting government into the hands of the people. The struggle in which they were champions is essentially the same contest that is going on to-day. The student will have little difficulty in select- ing names, in America and in European countries, to put in the list which should be headed with the names of these two Athenians. § ir,4| ART, I^OKTRY, PIIILOSOPllY 157 153. Ostracism. — One, ixiculiur device, of CliKthones donervcis mention. It was called nsfrdcLsni, and it was dcisij^iuid to iuiad olT civil Ktrife. Once a year the AssiMnbly was ^iven a chance to vote by ballot (on i)ieces of pottery, "Qstraka''), each one at-ainst any man whom he deemed dan- gerous to the state. If six thousand citiz(!iis thouf^ht that soma one ought to go into exile for th(! safety of the state, then that man had to go agdinut wJiom the largest number of the six thousand votes were cast. Such exile w:is fi'lt to be j)('rf(H3tly honorable ; and when a man came back from it, he took at once his old placi; in the public regard. KXKIU^IHK: Ql.ICHTlONM ON TIIIC («0 V KKN M KNT. FoV the EupatVld (JOV- eriiinciit. — 1. What repn^sentcd the monai'chic (;l(Mn(Mit of Homer's time? 2. What the aristocratic ■' :J. What the d(;mocratic V 4. VVhi(;h elciiKMit had mad(! a decid(!d gain in jiowcsr •* 5. Which had hrst most i' <», Whic^h of tlie three was h^ast important'* 7. Which most important? For /.he (jovernment after Solon. — I . What was tlu; basis of citlz(Mishii) ? 2. What was th(^ ])asis for distribution of power among the citiz(MJS? ;{. Was the introduction of tin? Senate a gain for the aristocratic or demo- cratic element l* 4. What i)owers did the Assenibly gain ? 5. Which two of these powers enabled the Asseinbly to control the administration ? Students should be able to answer similar questions on the government after Clisthenes' reforms. It would be a good exercise for the class to make out questions tluMuselves. VI. INTELLECTUAL DKVKLOPMENT 154. Architecture, painting, and sculpture had not reached full l)l(K)]u ill the sixth centiiry, hut tlu^y liad begun to show a eliaracter distinct from Oriental art. Their cliief centers in this period were Miletus and Eidiesiis (in Ionia) and Athens. Architecture was more advanced than painting or sculpture. It found its best development, not in palaces, as in tin; old Cretan civilization, but in the temi)les of the gods. In every Greek city, the temphis were the most beautiful and the most prominent structures. The plan of the Greek temple was very simple. People did not gather within the building ^'or service, as in our churches. They only brought offerings there. The incloscMl jijirt of tlie building, therefore, was small and rather dark, — containing only one or two rooms, for the statues of the god and the altar 158 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§154 and the safe-keepini^ of the offerings. It was merely the god's house, where people could visit hiui when they wished to ask favors. In shape, the temple was rectangular. The roof projected beyond the inclosed part of the building, and was supported not by the walls, but by a row of columns running around the four sides. The gables (pediments) in front and rear were low, and were filled with statuary, as was also the frieze, between the cornice and the columns. Sometimes there was a second frieze upon the walls of the building inside the colonnade. ft • :• • • — m ~*T # — ft • ft Ftl • IL — 4 , — X ■ — h Til I_L ■■ PIH T- • 1 11 ► 1^ 9 ^ ft 1 ft A ► t ' «. m • P!!!F ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ i. lift m _Li_ 1"1T — — — — m m ft ft ft ft fi — i — •- m ^::: ft ft »L Ground Plan of the Tkmple of Thkskus at Athens. The building took much of its beauty from its colonnades ; and the chiefdijfereiwes in the sti/les of architect ii re were marked hij the cohimns and their caj)itals. According to differences in these features, a building is said to belong to the Doric, Ionic, or Corinthia)t, "order." In the Doric order the column has 7W base oi its own, but rests directly upon the foundation from which the walls rise. The shaft is grooved lengthwise with some twenty flutings. The capital is severely simple, consisting of a circular band of stone, swelling up from the shaft, capped by a square block, without ornament. Upon the capitals rests a plain band of massive stones {the architrarc), and above this is the frieze, which sup- ports the roof. The frieze is divided at equal spaces by tri- § 155] ART, POETRY, PHILOSOPHY 159 Ionic Oudk gl'iphs, a series of three projecting flutings; and the spaces between the triglyphs are tilknl with sculpture. The Doric style is the simplest of the three orders. It is almost austere in its plainness, giv- ing a sense of self-controlled power and repose. Some- times it is called a masculine style, in contrast with the more ornate and feminine character of the Ionic order. "The Ionic order came into general use later. In this style, the column has a base arranged in three expanding circles. The shaft is more slender than the Doric. The swelling bell of the capital is often noblfj carved, and it is surmounted by two spiral rolls. The frieze has no tri- (jli/phs: the sculpture upon it is one continuous band. Corinthian Order. The Corinthian order is a later development and does not belong to the period we are now consid- ering. It resembles the Ionian ; but the capital is taller, lacks the spirals, and is more highly ornamented, with forms of leaves or animals. For illustrations of the Doric and Ionic orders, see also pages 158, 150, and especially page 212. For the Corinthian, see page 47G. 155. Poetry. — In poetry there was more prog- ress even than in architecture. The earliest Greek poetry had been made up of ballads, celebrating Douio Column. — From the Temple of Theseus at Athens. 1, tlie shaft; 2, the capital; 3, the frieze ; 4, coniiee ; 5, part of roof, sliowiiig the low slope. 160 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§155 wars and heroes. These ballads were stories in verse, sung by- wandering minstrels. The greatest of such compositions rose to epic poetrj/, of which the Iliad and Odyssey are the noblest examples. Their period is called the Ejnc Age. In the seventh and sixth centuries, most poetry consisted of odes and songs in a great variety of meters, — corresponding to the more varied life of the time. Love and pleasure are the favor- ite themes, and the poems describe feel- ings rather than out- ward events. They were intended to be sH)\g to the accom- paniment of the lyre (a sort of harp). They are therefore called lyrics ; and the sev- enth and sixth cen- turies are known as the Lyric Age. It is possible to name here only a few of the many famous lyric poets of that age. Sapplw, of Lesbos, wrote exquisite and melodious love songs, of which a few fragments survive. Her lover Alcaeus (another Lesbian poet) described her as " Pure Sappho, violet tressed, softly smiling." The ancients were wont to call her "the poetess,'' just as they referred to Homer as "the poet." Simonides wrote odes to arouse Hellenic patriotism ; Aiiacreon has been spoken of in connection with the brilliant court of Pisistratus. Tyrtaens, an Attic war-poet, wrote chiefly for the Spartans, and became one of their generals. Corinna was a woman poet of Boeotia. Pindar, the greatest of the lyric poets, A DoKK^ Capital. — From a i>liot»)graph of a de- tail of the Parthenon. See § 219 for the date and history. §156] ART, POETRY, PHILOSOPHY IGl came from the same district. He delighted especially to cele- brate the rushing chariots and glorious athletes of the Olympic ganu3S. Two other great poets, representing another kind of poetry, belong to this same period. Ilesiod of r)Oeotia lived about 800 B.C. He wove together into a long poem old stories of the creation and of the birth and relationship of the gods. This Theogony of Hesiod was the most important single work in early Greek literature, after the Homeric poems. Hesiod wrote also remarkable home-like poems on farm life (Works and Days).''- The other writer was Tlicspis, who began dratiiatic poetry (plays) at Athens, under the patronage of Pisistratus. 156. Philosophy. — Fn the sixth century, too, Greek phi- losophy was born. Its home was in Ionia. There hrst the Greek mind set out to explain the origin of things. Tholes of Miletus, "father of Greek philosophy," taught that all things came from Water, or moisture. His pupil Anaximenes called Air, not Water, the universal " hrst principle." Pythagoras (born at Samos, but teaching in Magna Graecia) sought the fundamental principle, not in any kind of matter, but in Number, or Harmony. Xenophanes of Ionia affirmed that the only real existence was that of God, one and changeless — " not in body like unto mortals, nor in mind." The clianging world, he said, did not really exist : it was only a decei)tion of men's senses. Heracleitus of Ephesus, on the other hand, held that " ceaseless change " was the very princii)le of things : the world, he taught, had evolved from a hery ether, and was in constant flux. Some of these explanations of the universe seem child- ish to us. They may represent honest attempts of men who had lost the primitive revelation. They do not in any way approach Christian philosophy. This early philos- ophy, however, was closely related to early science. Thales 1 This was really a textbook on farminff, — the first textbook in Europe. Hesiod wrote it in verse, because prose writinj; in his day was unknown. The earliest composition of any people is usually in meter. 162 HELLAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§157 was the first Greek to foretell eclipses. (He could predict the period, but not the precise day or hour.) Those who laughed at philosophers, liked to tell of him that, while gazing at the heavens, he fell into a well. He may have obtained his knowl- edge of astronomy from Egypt, which countr}^ we know he visited (§ 32). Anaximander, another philosopher of JMiletus, • tn ^%>»5 ,-<:^:> .^-v« n -fn^^-s^-r^ri-- • , ., _ . ^^ >•» . West Front of the Parthenon to-day. Doric style. See § 219. made maps and globes. The Pythagoreans naturally paid special attention to mathematics and especially to geometry ; and to P^^thagoras is ascribed the famous demonstration about the square on the hypotenuse of a right triangle. The Pythagoreans connected " philosophy " particularly with conduct. The harmony in the outer world, they held, must be matched by a harmony in the soul of man. Indeed, all these sages taught lofty moral truths. (See Davis' Eeadings, Vol. I, No. 98.) Greek philosophy lifted itself far above the moral level of Greek religion. 157. Summary of the Five Centuries. — During the five cen- turies from 1000 to 500 b.c, the Hellenes had come to think of themselves as one people (though. not as one nation), and 157] ART, POETRY, PHILOSOPHY 103 had developed a brilliant, jostling society. During more than half the period they had been busy sowing Hellenic cities broadcast along even the distant Mediterranean shores. They had found a capable military leadership in Sparta, Tlioy had everywhere rid themselves of the old monarchic rule, by a Wkst Fkont of Temple of Victory at Athens. — From tlio ruins to-day. Ionic stylo. See § 218. long series of changes ; and, in Athens in particular, they had gone far toward creating a true democracy. They had ex- perienced an artistic and intellectual development vjhich made their civUizafion in 7iiany regards nobler and more promising than any the world had yet seen. Moreover, this civilization v'as to he part of our own. The remains of Egyptian or Babylonian sculpture and architecture arouse our admiration and interest as curiosities ; but they are foreign to us. With the remains of a Greek temple, or a fragment of a Greek poem, of the year 500, we feel at home. It might have been built, or ivritten, by our own j^eople. 164 HELLAS FROM UX)0 TO r>0{) B.C. [§ ir>s 158. The following table of dates shows tho oonvspoiuloiioo in thue of h>ailing events in the Oriental anil the tireek world down to the period when the two worlds eonie into ehise relations. Down to about 800, dates are mostly estimates (§ ol). TTiis tahh is not (jivoi to Iw memorized, but merely to be read and referred to. IIkllas 8500 Kisiuij; .Vegeau " Ni>w Stone eulture 'J500 Hronze culture in (^rete and other Ae.i;i>an eentiM's 2500 or '2m) Destructi^Hi of Sehlie- manu's "Troy " (^the "Sec- ond City ") 2000 (?) " Minos of Crete 1()00 riuHMiii'lans in the Aeixean 1500-1200 Achaean conijuest^s loOO Destruction of Kuossos 1800 Destructiot\ of Mycenae 1200 DestructiiMi of Homer's " 'Vroy " (the *' Sixth City") 1100 Homeric l\>ems oOtX) 400 2800 The East Keconls of advanced Rron/.e cultures in valleys of Nile and Euphrates 2100 "OKI Kiuiidom" in l\i:ypt, centered at Mem- phis ; Menes ; Cheops ; pyramids Sarj^on : empire from Eu- l^hrates to Minlitcrrancan 2400-20(Xl "Middle Kini^dom'' in Eijypt, centered at Thebes : Lake Moeris ; Ked Sea canal ; commerce with Crete 22;U Beuinnin^ of recorded astnv nomical observations at Babylon (§ 40) 2(H>0 Abraham emigrates from Ur 2000-l(!00 Euyptian Decline : Hyk- sos : Ih^brews iMiter Egypt 1017 {'?) llamuuirabi: " First Bab- ylonian " Empire; vohmii- nous ctmeiform littM-ature l(>00-lo;>0 "New Eminrc"" in Egypt 1475 Egyptian brief conquest of the East : jit'st union of the Oriental icorhi lo20 Hebrew exodus 1100 Beginning-s of Assyrian Em- pire — Tiglath-rileser I 1581 HELLAS AND THE EAST 165 Hellas (continued) 1000 Dorian coiniuests })00 llise of Sparta 000-800 Ionian colonization 800-050 Greek colonization Mediterranean coasts 770 First recorded Olympiad 700-500 " Age of Tyrants" of 050-500 "Lyric Age" 504-503 Solon's reforms 500-527 Pisistratus 510 Expulsion of Tyrants from Athens The East (continued) 1055-075 David and Solomon 1000 (?) Zoroaster 850 (?) Carthage bounded 745 722 072 053 050 (J30 025 55() 558 True Assyrian Empire — Tig- lath-Pileser II Sargon carries the Ten Tribes of Israel into captivity Assyria concjuers Egypt : sec- ond union of Oriental icorld -625 Last p(>riod of Egyptian indept'ndence — open to Greeks; visits by Solon and Thales ; circumnavigation of Africa (?) First coinage, in Lydia Scythian ravages -538 Second Babylonian Em- pire : Babylonian captivity of the Jews Croesus, king in Lydia -520 Cyrus the Great founds Persian Empire — third un- ion of the Oriental World 500 Ionian Revolt (§§ 104, 105) (Eastern and Western civilizations in conflict) For Further Keading. — Specially suggested: (1) Davis' Head- ings, Vol. I, Nos. 40-5(5. These very nearly fit in with the order of treatment in this book, and several numbers have been referred to in footnotes. It is desirable for students each day to consult the Head- ings, to see whether they can find there more light on the lesson in this book. (2) Bury (on colonization), 80-100, 110-117 ; (on Sparta), 120-134; (on '' Lycurgus'^), 134-135; (on certain tyrants), 140-155; {oracles and festivals), 169-101 ; (work of Solon), 180-180. IGG IIKl.LAS FROM 1000 TO 500 B.C. [§158 ExicnnsK. — I)ist.iii,i;uisl» bctwoon f^pa rt a ixnd Lnconia. How did the n^lation of llwhcs l.o Bocotla dilier from that of Sparta to Lafoiiial' Winch of thtisd two relations was most like tliat of Athens to Attica 9 Have you any buihlinj!;s in your city in wiucli (Jrcek cohinnis arc used 1' Of wliich order, ;n each case i* (Take several leading buildings in a large town.) Explain tiic following terms : C(mstitution ; Helot ; Eupatrid ; tyrant ; Lycurgus ; Clisthenes ; Areopagus ; archoii ; deme ; clan ; tribe ; a, " tribe of Clisthenes." (To explain a term, in such an exercise, is to make such statemcMits concerning it as will at least prevent the term being confused with any other. Thus if the term is Solon, it will not do to say, " A Oreek law- giver," or " A lawgiver of the sixth century n.c." The answer must at least say, " An Athenian lawgiver of about (KM) n.o." ; and it ouires, besides adding vast regions before unknown. Py 500 jj.o. (the period to which we liave just carried Greek history), Persia reached into the peninsula of Ilindoostan in Asia, and, across Thrace, up to the Greek peninsula in Europe (map, after page 84). On tliis westc^rn frontier lay the scat- tered groiif)S of (jlreek cities, bustling and energetic, but sinall and disunited. The mitjhty world-ewpire now advanrj'.d ron- Jidently to add fheae liUUi communitie.H to its dondnions. Persia, in many ways, was the noblest of the Asiatic empires ; but its civilization was distinctly Oriental (with the general character that has been noted in §§ 8o ff.). The Greek cities, between looo and 500 B.C., had created a wholly different sort of culture, which we call European, or Western (§§ 82, 86). East and West now joined battle. The Persian attack upon Greece began a contest between two worlds, which has gone on, at times, ever since, - with the present '' Eastern Question " and our Philippine question for latest chapters. 160. Three sections of Hellas were prominent in power and culture: the Earo/x^au panuisula^ which we commonly call Greece; Asiatic Jlellas, with its coast islands; and JSicih/ and Mofjua Graecia C§ 122). Elsewhere, the cities were too scat- tered, or too small, or too busy with tlieir own deferjse against 107 168 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§ IGl surrounding savages, to count for niucli in the approaching contest. Asiatic Hellas fell easily to Persia before the real struggle began. Then the two other sections were attacked simultaneously, Greece by Persia, Sicily by Carthage. Carthage was a Phoenician colony on the north coast of Africa (see map after page 132). It had built up a consider- able empire in the western Mediterranean ; and, in Sicily, it had already, from time to time, come into conflict with Greek colonies. Sicily was an important point from which to (umtrol Mediterranean trade. Carthage now made a determined at- tempt to drive out her rivals there. The Greeks believed that the Persian king urged (Carthage to take this time for attack, so that Magna Graecia and Sicily might not be able to join the other Greeks in resisting the main attack from Persia. At all events, such was the result. The Greek cities in Sicily and Italy were ruled by tyrants. These rulers united under Gelon of Syracuse, and repelled the Carthaginian onset. But the struggle kept the Western Greeks from heJj)ing their kinsmen wjainst the Persians. 161. Conditions in Greece itself at this critical moment were unpromising. The forces that could be mustered against the master of the world were small at best; but just now they were further divided and wasted in internal struggles. Athens was at war with Aegina and with Thebes ; Sparta had re- newed an ancient strife with Argos (§ 9G), and had crippled her for a generation by slaying in one battle ahuost the whole body of adult Argives.^ Phocis was engaged in war with Thessalians on one side and Boeotians on the other. Worse than all this, many cities were torn by cruel class strife at 1 The old men and boys, however, were still able to defend Argos itself against Spartan attack. This tonches an important fact in Greek war- fare: a ivalled city could hardly be taken by assault; it could fall only through extreme carelessness, or by treachery, or starvation. The last danger did not often exist. The armies of the besiegers were made up of citizens, not of paid troops; and they could not keep the field lo>ic/ themselves. They were needed at home, and it was not easy for them to secure food for a long siege. 102] THE ANTAGONISTS 169 -'^^^%>'''<^^^ ^^''n:::^^^ ■\ i{ f. f 1m,-,s, . s '^^ w ^ \,A 1 ' btatcB dependent O 1111011 Sparta. iStaten in alliance ntli Sparta. :V ^-^ home, — oligarchs against democrats. One favorable condition, however, calls f(jr attention (§ 1G2). 162. The Peloponnesian League. — In a sense, Sparta was the head of Greece. She lacked the enterprise and daring that were to make Athens the city of the coming century ; but her government was firm, her army was large and disci- plined, and so far she had shown more genius than any other Greek state in organizing her neighbors into a military league. Two fifths of the Peloponnesus she ruled directly (La- conia and Mes- senia), and the rest (except Argo- lis and Achaea) formed a confederacy for war, with Sparta as the head. It is true the union was very slight. On special occasions, at the call of Sparta, the states sent delegates to a conference to discuss peace or war ; but there was no constitution, no common treasury, not even a general treaty to bind the states together. Indeed, one city of the league sometimes made war upon another. Each state was bound to Sparta by its special treaty ; and, if Sparta was attacked by an enemy, each city of the " league " was expected to maintain a certain number of troops for the confederate army. Loose as this Peloponnesian league was, it was the greatest war power in Hellas ; a7id it seemed the one ralhjing point for disunited Greece in the coming struggle (§ 130, close). Except for the presence of this war power, few other Greeks would have dared to resist Persia at all. SCALE OF MILES 1^ 6 10 20 ■■i'O 40 50 THE PKIiOl'ONNKSIAN LKAGUE (500 B.C.) 170 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§103 OTENTNG OF THE STKUGGLE IN IONIA 163. Conquest of the Ionian Greeks. — For two ec^nturies before 500 H.c, the Asiatic Hellenes excelled all other branches of the Greek race in culture. Unfortunately for them, the em- pire of Lydia arose near them. Tliat great state was un- willing to be shut off from the Aegean by the Greek cities, and it set out to conquer them. For some time, the little Greek states kept their independence ; but when the energetic Croesus (§ 70) became king of Lydia, he subdued all the cities on the coast of Asia Minor. Croesus, however, was a warm admirer of the Greeks, and his rule over them was gentle. They were expected to acknowledge him as tluMr over-lord and to jjay a snuxU tribute in money ; but they were left to manage their own affairs at home, and were favored in many ways. When ('yrus the Persian attacked Croesus (^ 72), the Asiatic Greeks fought gallantly for Lydia. After the over- throw of Croesus, they tried to come to terms with Cyrus. Cyrus was angry because they liad refused his invitations to join him in the war, and he would make them no promises. Fearing severe punishment, they made a brief struggle for independence. They applied, in vain, to Sparta for aid. Then Thales (§ 150) suggested a federation of all Ionia, with one gov- ernment and one army ; but the Greeks could not rise to so wise a plan (cf. § 104). So the Ionian cities fell, one by one, before the arms of C'yrus; and under Persian despotism their old leadership in civilization soon vanished. 164. The "Ionian Revolt," 500 bc. — The Persian conquest took i)lace about 540 n.c. IVfore that time the lonians had begun to get rid of tyrants. But the Persians set up a tyrant again in each city, as the easiest means of control. (This shows something of what would have happened in Greece itself, if Persia had won in the approaching war.) Each tyrant knew that he could keep his power only by Persian support. In the year 500, by a general rising, the lonians deposed their tyrants once more, formed an alliance with one another, §165] THE FIRST ATTACK 171 and broke into revolt against l*(M-sia. Another appeal to Sparta^ for h(jlp proved fruitless; but Athens sent twcaity ships, and little Eretria sent five. " 'I'hese ships,'' says Ilercjd- otus, "were the beginnings of woes, b(jth to the Greeks and to the barbarians." At first the lonians and their allies were successful. They even took Sardis, the old capital of Lydia, far in the interior. But treachery and mntual suspicion were rampant; Persian gold was used skillfully ; and one defeat broke up the loose Ionian league. Then the cities were again subdued, one by one, in the five years following. FIRST TWO ATTACKS UPON THE EUROPEAN GREEKS (402-1 !K) B.C.) 165. What was the relation of the Ionian Revolt to the Persian invasion of Greece? Acjcording to h^gend, tlie I^^rsian king attacked Greece to punish Athens for sending aid to the Ionian rebels. Herodotus says that Darius (§ 76) was so angered by the sack of Sardis that, during the rest of his life, he had a herald cry out to him thrice each day at dinner, — "OKing, remember the Athenians!" This story has the appearance of a later invention, to flatter Athenian vanity. Probably Athens was pointed out for special vengeance, by her aid to Ionia ; hut the Pemian invasion would have come, anyuKiy, and it would have come some years sooner, had not thci war in Ionia kept the Persians busy. The expanding frontier of the Persian empire had reached 1 The story of the appeal to Sparta is told pleasantly by Herodotus (ex- tract in Davis' Readinr/s, Vol. I, No. .57). It sliould be made a topic for a special report by some student to the class. (This seems a {/ \V PenU'n ,- :;)^V ^' ^ _.. . ^■';, OF HI.C» \ ' , ^ O , Plan of Makaihdn. CL innp, pauo 184. 1 The figures, on the next page, for the slain, are probably trustworthy ; but all numbers given for the Persian army, in this tn- other eampaigns, are guesses. Aneient historians put the Persians at INIarathou at from a quarter to half a million. Modern scholars are sure that no ancient tleet eouhi possi- bly carry any considerable part of such a force, — and, indeed, it is clear that the ancient auth(»rities had no basis for their tigures. Modern guesses — they are nothing better — put the Persian force at ^Marathon all the way from 100,000 down to U0,000. § H>7] THE SECOND ATTACK 175 utterly unprepared for conflict on such terms. The Persians fought galhintly, as usual; but their darts and light scimetars made little imi)ression upon the heavy bronze armor of the Greeks, while their linen tunics and wicker shields counted for little against the thrust of the Greek spear. For a time, it is true, the Greek center had to give ground ; but the two Marathon To-day. — From a photitgrai)!!. The camera stooil a little above the Athenian eainp in the Plan on the opposite iMige. That eaiup was in the first open spaee in the forej;round, where the poplar trees are scattered. The land h(>yond the strip of water is the narrow peninsula running out from the " Marsh " in tlu^ IMan. wings, having routed the forces in front of them, wheeled upon the Persian center, crusliing upon both flanks at the same moment, and drove it in disorder to the ships. One hundred ninety-two Athenians fctl. The Persians left over sixty-four hundred dead upon the held. The Athenians tried also to seize the fleet; but here they ■were repulsed. The 1 Persians embarked and sailed safely away. They took a course that might lead to Athens. Moreover, the 176 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§ 168 Greek army had just seen ami-signals tiashing to the enemy from some traitor's shieUl in the distant mountains ; and ^lil- tiades feared them to be an invitation to attaek the eity in the absence of the army. To cheek such plots, he sent the runner riiidi])pides to announce the victory to Athens. Already ex- hausted by the battle, Phidippides put forth supreme effort, raced the twenty-two miles of mountain road from ^larathon, shouted exultantly to the eager, anxious crowds, — " Ours the victory," — and fell dead.^ Meanwhile Miltiades was hurrying the rest of his wearied aruiy, without rest, over the same road. Fortunately the Persian fleet had to sail around a long promontory (map, page 180), and when it a[>peare(l off Athens, the next morn- ing, IMiltiades and his hoplites had arrived also. The Persians did not care to face again the men of ^larathon ; and the same day they set sail for Asia.- 168. Importance of Marathon. — ]\Ierely as a military event "Marathon is an unimportant skirmish ; but, in its results u])()n human welfare, it is auiong the few really "decisive" battles of the world. Whether Egyptian con(puM-ed Pabylonian, or Babylonian conquered Egyptian, mattered little in the long run. Possibly, whether Si)artan or Athenian i)revailed over the other mattered not much more. Put it did matter whether or not the huge, incu't EiOit should crush the ninv life out of the West, ^larathon decided that the West should live on. For the Athenians themselves, IVlarathon began a new era. Natural as the victory came to seem in later times, it took high courage on that day to stand before the hitherto uncontpuM-inl Persians, even without such tremendous odds. "The Athe- nians,'^ says Herodotus, " were the first of the Greeks to face iThe student will like to read, or to hear read, Browninjj^'s pt)ein. Phvidlp- piih's, with the story of both runs by this Greek hero. Ct)nipare this slory with Herodotus' aee(UuU in Davis' licadini/s, Vol. I, No. .li). The lanums run fron\ the battletieUl to the I'ity is the basis of the modern " INIaratliou " raee, in whii'h I'hanipiou atliletes of all eountries compete. '-The full story of this battle should be read as Herodotus tells it. It is given in Davis' lictnliti;/s, \'ol. I, Nos. ^it, (JO. § 169] AN INTERVAL OF PREPARATION 177 the Median jj^arments, . . . whereas iq) to tliis time the very name of Mede [Persian] had been a terror to the Hellenes." Athens broke the spell for the rest of Greece, and grew herself to heroic stature in an hour. The sons of the men who conquered on that field could find no odds too crushing, no prize too dazzling, in the years to come. It was now that the Athenian character first showed itself as Thucydides described it a century later : " The Athenians are the only people who succeed to the full extent of their hope, because thei/ throw themselves with- out reserve into whatever they resolve to do.^'' ATHENS — FROM MARATHON TO THERMOPYLAE 169. Internal Faction Crushed. — Soon after Marathon, Egypt revolted against Persia. Tliis gave the Greeks ten years more for preparation ; but, except in Athens, little use was made of the interval. In that city the democratic forces grew stronger and more united, while the oligarchs were weakened. One incident in this change was the ruin of Miltiades, the hero of Marathon. Miltiades was originally an Athenian noble who had made himself tyrant of Chersonesus (map after page 94). Not long before the Persian invasion, he had brought upon himself the hatred of the Great King,^ and had fled back to Athens. Here he became at once a prominent supporter of the oligarchic party. The democrats tried to prosecute him for his i)revious "tyranny"; but the attempt failed, and when the Persian invasion came, the Athenians were fortunate in having his experience and ability to guide them. Soon after Marathon, however, Miltiades failed in an expedition against Paros, into which he had persuaded the Athenians ; and then the hostile democracy secured his overthrow. He was condemned to pay an immense fine, and is said to have died soon afterward in prison. Tliis bloiv was follotved by the ostracism of some oligarchic leader each season for several years, until that party was utterly 1 Report the story from Herodotus, if a translation is accessible. 178 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§170 broken. Thus Athens was saved from its most serious inter- nal dissension. 170. Themistocles makes Athens a Naval Power. — The victo- rious democrats at once divided into new parties. The more moderate section was content witli the constitution of Clis- thenes and was disposed to follow old customs. Its leader was Aristides, a calm, conservative man, surnamed " the Just." The radical wing, favoring new methods and further change, was led by Themistocles. Themistocles was sometimes less scrupulous and upright than Aristides, but he was one of the most resourceful and far-sighted statesmen of all history. Themistocles desired passionately one great departure from past custom in Athenian affairs. He wished to make Athens a naval power. He saio clearly that the real struggle ivith Persia ivas yet to come, and that the result could he decided hy victory on the sea. Such victory was more probable for the Greeks than victory on land. Huge as the Persian empire was, it had no seacoast except Egypt, Phoenicia, and Ionia. It could not, therefore, so vastly outnumber the Greeks in ships as in men ; and if the Greeks could secure command of the sea, Persia would be unable to attack them at all. But this proposed naval policy for Athens broke with all tradition, and could not win without a struggle. Seafarers though the Greeks were, up to this time they had not used ships much in war. Attica, in particular, had almost no navy. The party of Aristides wished to hold to the old policy of fighting on land, and they had the glorious victory of Marathon to strengthen their arguments. Feeling ran high. Finally, in 483, the leaders agreed to let a vote of ostracism decide between them. Fortunately, Aristides was ostracized (§ 153), and for some years the influence of Themistocles was the strongest power in Athens. While the voting was going on (according to Herodotus) a stupid fellow, who did not know Aristides, asked him to write the name Aristides on the shell he was about to vote. Aristides did so, asking, however, what harm Aristides had ever done the man. " .Vo harm," replied the voter; "in § 171] THE MAIN ATTACK 179 deed, I do not know him; but I am tired of hearing him called 'the Just.' " Head the other anecdotes about Aristides in Davis' Headings, Vol. I, No. 61. Themistocles at once put his new policy into operation. Kich veins of silver had recently been discovered in the mines of Attica, These mines beloufjed to the city, and a large reve- nue from them had accumulated in the public treasury. It had been proposed to divide the money among the citizens ; but Themistocles persuaded his countrymen to reject this tempting plan, and instead to build a great fleet. Thanks to this policy, in the next three years Athens became the great- est naval power in Hellas. The decisive victory of Salamis was to be the result (§ 179). THE THIRD ATTACK, 480-479 b.c. 171. Persian Preparation. — Meantime, happily for the world, the great Darius died, and the invasion of Greece fell to his feebler son, Xerxes. Marathon had proved that no Persian fleet by itself could transport enough troops ; so the plan of Mardonius' expedition (§ 166) was tried again, but npon a larger scale, both as to army ayid fleet. To guard against another accident at Mt. Athos, a canal for ships was cut through the isthmus at the back of that rocky headland, — a great engineering work that took three years. Meantime, supplies were collected at stations along the way ; the Hellespont was bridged with chains of boats covered with planks ; ^ and at last, in the spring of 480, Xerxes in person led a mighty host of many nations into Europe. Ancient reports put the Asiatics at from one and a half million to two million soldiers, with followers and attendants to raise the total to five millions. Modern critics think Xerxes may have had some half-million troops, with numerous followers. In any case, the numbers vastly exceeded those which the Greeks could bring against them. A fleet of twelve hundred ships accompanied the army. 1 Read Herodotus' story of Xerxes' wrath when the lirst bridge broke, and how he ordered the Hellespont to be flogged (Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 64). 180 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§172 172. The Greek Preparation. — The danger forced the Greeks into something like common action : into a greater unity, indeed, than they had ever known. Sparta and Athens joined in call- ing a Hellenic congress at Corinth, on the isthmus, in 481 b.c. The deputies that appeared bound their cities by oath to aid one another, and pledged their common efforts to punish any states that should join Persia. Ancient feuds were pacified. Plans of campaign were discussed, and Sparta was formally recognized as leader. In spite of Athens' recent heroism, the belief in Sparta's invincibility in war was too strong to permit any other choice. Messengers were sent also to implore aid from outlying por- tions of Hellas, but with little result. Crete excused herself on a superstitious scruple. Coi'cyra promised a fleet, but took care it should not arrive ; and the Greek tyrants in Sicily and Magna Graecia had their hands full at home with the Cartha- ginian invasion (§ 160). The outlook was full of gloom. Argos, out of hatred for Sparta, and Thebes, from jealousy of Athens, had refused to attend the congress, and were ready to join Xerxes. Even the Delphic oracle, which was of course consulted in such a crisis, predicted ruin and warned the Athenians in particular to flee to the ends of the earth. 173. The Lines of Defense. — Against a land attack the Greeks had three lines of defense. The first was at the Vale of Tempe near Mount Olympus, where only a narrow pass opened into Thessaly. The second was at Thermopylae, where the mountains shut off northern from central ^ Greece, except for a road only a few feet in width. The third was behind the Isthmus of Corinth. 174. Plan of Campaign. — At the congress at Corinth the Peloponneslans had icished selfishly to abandon the first two lines. They, urged that all patriotic Greeks should retire at once within the Peloponnesus, the final citadel of Greece, and for- 1 For these terms, see map study, page 99. § 176] THERMOPYLAE 181 tify the isthmus by an impregnable wall. This plan was as foolish as it was selfish. Greek troops might have held the isthmus against the Persian land army ; but the Pelopon- nesus was readily open to attack by sea, and the Persian fleet would have found it easier here than at either of the other lines of defense to land troops in the Greek rear, ivithout losing touch tvith its own army. Such a surrender of two thirds of Greece, too, would have meant a tremendous reinforcement of the enemy by excellent Greek soldiery. Accordingly, it was finally decided to resist the entrance of the Persians into Greece by meeting them at the Vale of Tempe. 175. The Loss of Thessaly. — Sparta, however, had no gift for going to meet an attack, but must always await it on the enemy's terms. A hundred thousand men should have held the Vale of Tempe ; but only a feeble garrison was sent there, and it retreated before the Persians appeared. Through Sparta's incapacity for leadership, Xerxes entered Greece without a blow. Then the Thessalian cities, deserted by their allies, joined the invaders with their powerful cavalry. 176. Thermopylae: Loss of Central Greece. — This loss of Thessaly made it evident, even to Spartan statesmen, that to abandon central Greece would strengthen Xerxes further ; and it was decided in a half-hearted way to make a stand at Ther- mopylae. The pass was only some twenty feet wide between the cliff and the sea, and the only other path was one over the mountain, equally easy to defend. Moreover, the long island of Euboea approached the mainland just opposite the pass, so that the Greek fleet in the narroiv strait could guard the land army against having troops landed in the rear. The Greek fleet at this place numbered 270 ships. Of these the Athenians furnished half. The admiral was a Spartan, though his city sent only sixteen ships. The land defense had been left to the Peloponnesian league. This was the supremely important duty ; but the force, which Sparta had sent to attend to it, was shamefully small. The Spartan king, Leonidas, held the pass with three hundred Spartans and a few thousand 182 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§176 allies. The main force of Spartans ivas again left at home, on the ground of a religious festival. The Persians reached Thermopylae without a eheck. Battle was joined at once on land and sea, and raged for three days. Four hundred Persian ships were wrecked in a storm, and the rest were checked by the Greek fleet in a sternly contested con- Thermopylae. From a photograph: to show the steepness of the mountain side. flict at Artemisium. On land, Xerxes flung column after col- umn of chosen troops into the pass, to be beaten back each time in rout. But on the third night, Ephialtes, " the Judas of Greece," guided a force of Persians over the mountain path, which the Spartans had left only slightly guarded. Leonid as knew that he could no longer hold his position. He sent home his allies; but he and his three hundred Spartans re- mained to die in the pass which their country had given them § 177] THERMOPYLAE 183 to defend. They charged joyously upon the Persian spears, and fell fighting, to a man.^ Sparta had shown no capacity to command in this great crisis. Twice her shortsightedness had caused the loss of vital positions. But at Thermopylae her citizens had set Greece an example of calm heroism that has stirred the world ever since. In later times the burial place of the Three Hundred was marked by this inscription, " Stranger, go tell at Sparta that we lie here in obedience to her command." 177. Destruction of Athens. — Xerxes advanced on Athens and was joined by most of central Greece. The Theban oli- garchs, in particular, welcomed him with genuine joy. The Peloponnesians would risk no further battle outside their own peninsula. They withdrew the army, and fell back upon their first plan of building a wall across the isthmus. Athens ivas left open to Persian vengeance. The news threw that city into uproar and despair. The Delphic oracle was appealed to, but it prophesied utter destruc- tion. Themistocles (perhaps by bribery) finally secured from the priestess an additional prophecy, that when all else was destroyed, " wooden walls " would still defend the Athenians. Many citizens then wished to retire within the wooden palisade of the Acropolis; but Themistocles, the guiding genius of the stormy day, persuaded them that the oracle meant the " wooden walls " of their ships. The Greek fleet had withdrawn from Artemisium, after the Persians won the land pass ; and the Spartan admiral was bent upon retiring at once to the position of the Peloponnesian army, at the isthmus. By vehement entreaties, Themistocles persuaded him to hold the whole fleet for a day or two at Athens, to help remove the women and children and old men to Salamis and other near-by islands. More than 200,000 iQne Spartan, who had been left for dead by the Persians, afterward re- covered and returned home. But his fellow-citizens treated him with pitying contempt ; and at the next great battle, he sought and found death, fighting in the front rank. 184 THE KEEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§ ITS people had to be moved from their homes. There was no time to save property. The Persians marehed triumphantly through Attica, burning villages and farmsteads, and laid Athens and its temples in ashes. G, tho Greek tieet at Salainis. FTP. the Persian tieet. A', tlie Throne of Xerxes. (The " Ix>njr Walls " were not built until later; § '2{)0.) 178. Strategy of Themistocles. — But Themistoeles, in delay- ing the retreat of the tieet, planned for more than escape. Jle was determi))ed that the decisive battle {ihoiild be a sea battle, and that it should be fought where the feet then laf/. No other spot so favorable could be found. The narrow strait between the Athenian shore and Salamis would embarrass the Persian num- bers, and help to nuike up for the small niunbers of the Greek ships. Themistocles saw, too, that if they withdrew to § 178] TTTEATTSTOOLES 185 Corinth, as the Peloponnesians insisted, all chance of united action would be lost. The fleet would break up. Some ships would sail home to defend their own island cities ; and others, like those of Megara and Aegina, feeling that their cities were deserted, might join the Persians. The fleet had grown now to 378 ships. The Athenians furnished 200 of these. With wise and generous patriotism, they had yielded the chief command to Sparta, but of course Themistocles carried weight in the council of captains. It was The Bay of Salamis. — Fn)iii a pluttograph. he who, by persuasion, entreaties, and bribes, had kept the navy from abandoning the land forces at Thermopylae, before the sea fight off Artemisium. A similar but greater task now fell to him. Debate waxed fierce in the all-night council of the captains. Arguments were exhausted, and Themistocles had recourse to threats. The Corinthian admiral sneered that the allies need not regard a man who no longer represented a Greek city. The Athenian retorted that he represented two hundred ships, and could make a city, or take one, where he chose ; and, by a threat to sail away to found a new Athens in Italy, he forced the allies to remain. Even then the decision would have been reconsidered, had not the wily Themistocles made use of a strange stratagem. AVith pretended friendship, ISO THE OREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§170 he sent a secret message to Xerxes, notifyini: him of the weak- ness ami dissensions of the Greeks, and adrisimj lu'ni to block up the ittraits to prcnnit their escape. Xerxes took this treacherous advice. Aristides, whose os- tracism had been revoked in the hour of danger, and who now slipped through the hostih* tleet in his singh^ ship to join Ids countrymen, brought the news that they were surrounded. There n'a{i noir no clioire but to Jiqht. 179. The Battle of Salamis. — The Persian lieet was twice the size of the Greek, and was itself hirgely made up of Asiatic Greeks, while the Phoenicians and Egyptians, who composed the remainder, were t'auunis sailors. The conflict the next day lasted from dawn to night, but the Greek victory was complete. '' A kinj; sat on the rooky brow ^ Wliich looks o'er sea-born Salamis; And ships by thousands lay below, And men in nations, — all were his. He counted them at break of day. And when the sun set. where were they?'* Aeschylus, an Athenian poet who ^vas present in the battle, gives a noble picture of it in his dranui. The Persiona. The speaker is a Persian, telling the story to the Persian queen- mother : — '' Not in tlight The Hellenes then their solenui paeans sang, But with brave spirits hastening on to battle. With martial sound the trumpet tired those ranks : And straight with sweep of oars that tlew thro' foam. They smote the loud waves at the boatswain's call . . . And all at once we heaixl a mighty shout — 'O isona of HelleneSy foncant free ijour country ; Free, too, your trives. your chihiren, and the tihrines Built to your fathers' Gods, and holy tomfis Your ancestors note rest in. The ^riijht Is for our all.' . . . 1 A jrolden throne had l>een set up for Xerxes, that he might better view the battle. Those linos aro from Bvrou. § ISl] SALAMTS 187 . . . And the hulls of sliips Floated capsized, nor could the sea be seen, Filled as it was with wrecks and carcasses ; And all the shores and rocks were full of corpses, And every ship was wildly rowed in flight, All that composed the Persian armament. And they [(treeks], as men spear tunnies, or a haul Of other fishes, with the shafts of oars. Or spars of wrecks, went smiting, cleaving down ; And bitter groans and wailings overspread The wide sea waves, till eye of swarthy night Bade it all cease ... lie assured That never yet so great a nudtitude Died in a single day as ilicd in this."' 180. Two incidents in the celebration of the victory throw light upon Greek character. The commanders of the various city contingents in the Greek fleet voted a prize of merit to the city that deserved best in the action. The Athenians had furnished more than half the whole fleet ; they were the first to engage, and they had especially distinguished themselves ; they had seen their city laid in ashes, and only their steady patriotism had made a victory possible, rclopoiniesian jeaUmstf, however, j^f^^^^d them bij for their rival, Aegina, which had Joined the Sparta)i league. A vote was taken, also, to award jirizes to the two most meritorious commanders. Each captain voted for himself for the first place, while all voted for Themisfoclcs for the second. 181. The Temptation of Athens. — On the day of Salamis the Sicilian Greeks won a decisive victory over the Carthaginians at Ilimera. For a while, that battle closed the struggle in the West. In Greece the Persian chances were still good. Xerxes, it is true, tied at once to Asia with his shattered fleet ; but he left his general, the experienced Mardonius, with three hiuidred thousand chosen troops. Mardonius withdrew from central Greece for the time, to winter in the plains of Thessaly ; but he would be ready to renew the struggle in the spring. The Athenians began courageously to rebuild their city. Mardonius looked upon them as the soul of the Greek resist- ance, and in the early spring, he offered them an alliance, with many favors and with the complete restoration of their city at 188 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§ 182 Persian expense. Sparta was terrified lest the Athenians should accept so tempting an offer, and sent in haste, with many promises, to beg them not to desert the cause of Hellas. There was no need of such anxiety. The Athenians had already sent back the Persian messenger : " Tell jMardonius that so long as the sun holds on his way in heaven, the Athenians will come to no terms with Xerxes." They then courteously declined the Spartan offer of aid in rebuildiug their city, and asked 0))I>/ that Sjtarta take the fiekl earhi enough so that Athens need not be again abandoned without a battle. Sjmrta made the j^^'oniise, but did not keep it. Mardouius approached rapidly. The Spartans found another sacred fes- tival before which it would not do to leave their homes ; and the Athenians, in bitter disappointment, a second time took refuge at Salamis. With their city in his hands, Mardonius offered them again the same favorable terms of alliance. Only one of the Athenian Council favored even submitting the matter to the people, — and he was instantly stoned by the enraged populace, while the women inflicted a like cruel fate upon his wife and children. Even such violence does not obscure the heroic self-sacrifice of the Athenians. Mardonius burned Athens a second time, laid waste the farms over Attica, cut down the olive groves (the slow growth of many years), and then retired to the level ])lains of Boeotia. 182. Battle of Plataea, 479 b c. — Athenian envoys had been at Sparta for weeks begging for instant action, but they had been put off with meaningless delays. The fact was, Sparta still clung to the stupid plan of defending only the isthmus, — which was all that she had made real preparations for. Some ot her keener allies, however, at last made the Ephors see the uselessness of the wall at Corinth if the Athenians should be forced to join Persia with their fleet, as in that case, the Persians could land an army anywhere they chose in the rear of the wall. So Sparta decided to act ; and she gave a striking proof of her resources. One morning the Athenian envoys, who had given up hope, announced indig- § 183] PLATAEA 189 nantly to the Spartan government that they would at once return home. To their amazement, they were tokl that during the night 50,000 Peloponnesian troops had set out for central Greece. The Athenian forces and other reinforcements raised the total of the Greek army to about 100,000, and tlie final contest with Mardonius was fought near the little town of Plataea. Spartan generalship blundered sadly, and many of the allies were not brought into the fight ; but the stubborn Spartan valor and the Athenian skill and dash won a victory which became a massacre It is said that of the 200,000 Persians engaged, only 3000 escaped to Asia. The Greeks lost 154 men. 183. The Meaning of the Greek Victory. — The victory of Plataea closed the first great period of the Persian Wars. A second period was to begin at once, but it had to do with freeing the Asiatic Greeks. That is, Europe took the offensive. No hostile Persian ever again set foot in European Greece. A Persian victory would have meant the extinction of the world's best hope. The Persian civilization was Oriental (§§ 80, 81). Marathon and Salamis decided that the des- potism of the East should not crush the rising freedom of the West in its first home. To the Greeks themselves their victory opened a new epoch. They were victors over the greatest of world-empires. It was a victory of intellect and spirit over matter. Unlimited confi- dence gave them still greater power. New energies stirred in their veins and found expression in manifold forms. The matchless bloom of Greek art and thought, in the next two generations, had its roots in the soil of Marathon and Plataea. Moreover, slow as the Greeks had been to see Sparta's poor management, most of them could no longer shut their eyes to it. Success had been due mainly to the heroic self-sacri- fice and the splendid energy and wise patriotism of Athens. And that city — truest representative of Greek culture — was soon to take her proper place in the political leadership of Greece. 190 THE GREEKS — PERSIAN WARS [§ 1S3 Exercises. — 1. Summarize the causes of the Persian Wars. 2. Devise and memorize a series of catch-irords for rapid statement, that shall sug- gest the outline of the story quickly. Thus : — Persian conquest of Lydia and so of Asiatic (rreeks ; revolt of Ionia, 500 B.C. ; Athenian aid ; reconquest of Ionia. First expedition against European Greece. 492 B.C., throuirh Thrace : Mount Athos. Second expe- dition, across the Aegean, two years later : captm-e of Eretria ; landing at Marathon; excuses of Sparta; arrival of Plataeans ; MUtiades and batth of Marathon, 490 B.C. (Let the student continue the series. In this way, the ichole story may be reviewed in two minutes, with reference to every important event.) For Further Reading. — Specially sugt/ested : Davis' Headings gives the whole story of Xerxes' invasion as the Greeks themselves told it, in Vol. I, Nos. 02-73, — about 47 pages. Nowhere else can it be read so well ; and the high school student who does read that account can afford to omit modern authorities. If he reads further, it may well be in one of the volumes mentioned below, mainly to see how the modern authority has used or criticised the account by Herodotus. Additional: Cox's Greeks and Persians is an admirable little book: chs. v-viii may be read for this story. Bury is rather critical ; but the student may profitably explore his pages for parts of the story (pp. 205- 295). Many anecdotes are given in Plutarch's Z, /res (" Theraistocles " and " Aristides"'). CHAPTER XIII ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP, 478-431 B.C. (From thk Pkksiax Wak to tiik Peloponnesian War) The history of Athens is for us the history of Greece. — Holm. GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 184. Athens Fortified. — Immediately after Plataea, the Athenians began once more to rebuikl their temples and homes. Themistocles, however, persuaded them to leave even these in ashes and first surround the city with walls. Some Greek cities at once showed themselves basely eager to keej) Athens help- less. Corinth, especially, urged Sparta to interfere ; and, to her shame, Sparta did call upon the Athenians to give up the plan. Such walls, she said, might prove an advantage to the Persians if they should again occupy Athens. Attica, which had been ravaged so recently by the Persians, was in no condition to resist a Peloponnesian army. So, neglecting all private mat- ters, the Athenians toiled with desperate haste — men, women, children, and slaves. The irregular nature of the walls told the story to later generations. No material was too precious. Inscribed tablets and fragments of sacred temples and even monuments from the burial grounds were seized for the work. To gain the necessary time, Themistocles had recourse to wiles. As Thucydides (§ 224) tells the story : — " The Athenians, by the advice of Themistocles, replied that they would send an embassy to discuss the matter, and so got rid of the Spar- tan envoys. Themistocles then proposed that he should himself start at once for Sparta, and that they should i^ive him colleagues who were not to go immediately, but were to wait until the wall had reached a height which could be defended. . . . On his arrival, he did not at once pre- sent himself officially to the magistrates, but delayed and made excuses, 191 192 THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP [§185 and when any of them asked him why he did not appear before the Assembly, he said that he was waiting for his colleagues who had been detained. . . . The friendship of the magistrates for Themistocles in- duced them to believe him, but when everybody who came from Athens declared positively that the wall was building, and had already reached a considerable height, they knew not what to think. Aware of their suspicions, Themistocles asked them not to be misled by reports, but to send to Athens men of their own whom they could trust, to see for them- selves. " The Spartans agreed ; and Themistocles, at the same time, privately instructed the Athenians to detain the Spartan envoys as quietly as pos- sible, and not let them go till he and his colleagues had got safely home. For by this time, those who were joined with him in the embassy had arrived, bringing the news that the wall was of sufficient height, and he was afraid that the Lacedaemonians, i when they heard the truth, might not allow him to return. So the Athenians detained the envoys, and Themistocles, coming before the Lacedaemonians, at length declared, in so many words, that Athens was now provided with walls and would pro- tect her citizens : henceforward, if the Lacedaemonians wished at any time to negotiate, they must deal with the Athenians as with men who knew quite well what was best for their own and the common good." 185. The Piraeus. — Themistocles was not yet content. Athens lay some three miles from the shore. Until a few years before, her only port had been an open road- stead, — the Phalerum ; but during his archonship in 493, as part of his plan for naval greatness, Themistocles had given the city a magnihcent harbor, by improving the bay of the PiraeuSy at great expense. Now he persuaded the people to fortify this new port. Accordingly, the Piraeus, on the land side, was surrounded with a massive wall of solid masonry, clamped with iron, sixteen feet broad and thirty feet high, so that old men and boys might easily defend it against any enemy. TJie Athenians no\o had two walled cities, each four or five miles in circuit, and only four miles apart. 186. Commerce and Sea Power. — The alien merchants, who dwelt at the Athenian ports, had fled at the Persian invasion ; 1 Lacedaemonia is the name given to the whole Spartan territory. See map after page 98. 187] ATHENIAN COMMERCE 193 but this new security brought them back in throngs, to con- tribute to the power and wealth of Athens. Themistocles took care, too, that Athens should not lose her supremacy on the sea. Even while the walls of the Piraeus were building, he secured a vote of the Assembly ordering that twenty new ships should be added each year to the fleet. F-Port of Piraeus ggg Porticoes and Corn-market jj_Tomb of Themistocles S A K O N- T C G U aaa -Walls of Themistocles. 666 -Old City Limits. A —Acropolis. B -Areopagus. C-Pnyx. D —Museum. £— Agora. Plan of Athens and its Ports. i 187. Attempt at One League of All Hellas. — While the Greek army was still encamped on the field of victory at Plataea, it was agreed to hold there each year a Congress of all Greek cities. For a little time back, danger had forced a make-shift union upon the Greeks. The plan at Plataea was a wise attempt to make this union into a permanent con- federacy of all Hellas. 71}e proposal came from the Athenians, with the generous understanding that Sparta should keep the headship. The plan failed. Indeed, the jealous hostility of Sparta regarding the fortifi- cation of Athens showed that a true union would be difficult. Instead of one confederacy, Grreecefell apart into two rival leagues. 1 The " Long Walls " were not built until several years after the events mentioned in this section. See § 200. 194 THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP [§188 188. Sparta and Athens. — Though Sparta had held command in the war, still the repulse of Persia had counted most for the glory of Athens. Athens had made greater sacrifices than any other state. She had shown herself free from petty vanity, and had acted with a broad patriotism. She had furnished the best ideas and ablest leaders ; and, even in the field, Athe- nian enterprise and vigor had accomplished as much as Spartan discipline and valor. Sjyarta had been necessary at the beginning. Had it not been for her great reputation, the Greeks would not have known where to turn for a leader, and so, probably, could not have come to any united action. But she had shown miserable judgment; her leaders, however brave, had proved incapable^; and, now that war against Persia was to be carried on at a distance, her lack of enterprise became even more evident. Meantime, events were happening in Asia Minor which were to force Athens into leadership. The European Greeks had been unwilling to follow any but Spartan generals on sea or land ; but the scene of the war tvas noio transferred to the Ionian coast, and there Athens teas the more popidar citij. Many cities there, like Miletus, looked upon Athens as their mother city (§ 121). 189. Mycale. — In the early spring of 479, a fleet had crossed the Aegean to assist Samos in revolt against Persia. A Spartan commanded the expedition, but three fifths of the ships were Athenian. On the very day of Plataea (so the Greeks told the story), these forces won a double victory a.t Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor. They defeated a great Persian army, and seized and burned the three hundred Persian ships. No Persian fleet showed itself again in the Aexjeanfor nearly a hun- dred years. Persian garrisons remained in many of the islands, for a time ; but Persia made no attempt to reinforce them. 1 Two of her kings were soon to play traitorous parts to Sparta and Hellas. Special report : King Leotychides in Thessaly. See also Pausanias at Byzan- tium, § UK). The boasted Spartan training did not fit her men for the duties of the ivider life noio open to them. § 191] THE CONFEDERACY OF DELOS 195 190. The Ionian Greeks throw off Spartan Leadership. — The victory of Mycale was a signal for tlie cities of Ionia to revolt again against Persia. The Spartans, however, shrank from the task of defending Hellenes so far away, and proposed instead to remove the lonians to European Greece. The lonians refused to leave their homes, and the Athenians in the fleet declared that Sparta should not so destroy " Athenian colonies." The Spartans seized the excuse to sail home, leaving the Athenians to protect the lonians as best they could. The Athenians gal- lantly undertook the task, and began at once to expel the Persian garrisons from the islands of the Aegean. The next spring (478) Sparta thought better of the matter, and sent Pausanias to take command of the allied fleet. Pau- sanias had been the general of the Greeks at the battle of the Plataea ; but that victory had turned his head. He treated the allies with contempt and neglect. At last they found his inso- lence unbearable, and asked the Athenians to take the leader- ship. Just then it was discovered that Pausanias had been negotiating treasonably with Persia, offering to betray Hellas. Sparta recalled him, to stand trial,^ and sent another general to the fleet. The allies, however, refused to receive another Spartan commander. Then Sparta and the Peloponnesian league ivithdreio wholly from the icar. 191. The Confederacy of Delos. — After getting rid of Sparta, the first step of the allies was to organize a confederacy. The chief part in this great work fell to Aristides, the commander of the Athenian ships in the allied fleet. Aristides proposed a plan of union, and appointed the number of ships and the amount of money that each of the allies should furnish each year. Tlie courtesy and tact of the Athenian, and his known honesty, made all the states content with his proposals, and his arrangements were readily accepted.^ The union was called the Confederacy of Delos, because its 1 Special report: the story of the punishment of Pausanias. 2 Exercise. —1. Could Themistocles have served Athens at this time as well as Aristides did ? 2. Report upon the later life of Themistocles. 196- THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP [§192 seat of government and its treasury were to be at the island of Delos (the center of an ancient Ionian amphictyony). Here an annual congress of deputies from the different cities of the league" was to meet. Each city had one vote.^ Athens was the " president " of the league. Her generals commanded the fleet, and her delegates presided at the Congress. In return, Athens bore nearly half the total burdens, in furnishing ships and men, — far more than her proper share. The purpose of the league was to free the Aegean completely from the Persians, and to keep them from ever coming back. The allies meant to make the union perpetual. Lumps of iron were thrown into the sea when the oath of union was taken, as a symbol that it should be binding until the iron should float. The league ivas composed mainhj of Ionian cities, interested in commerce. It was a natural rival of Sparta's Dorian inland league. 192. The League did its work well. Its chief military hero was the Athenian Cimon, son of Miltiades.^ Year after year, under his command, the allied fleet reduced one Persian gar- rison after another, until the whole region of the Aegean — all its coasts and islands — was free. Then, in 466, Cimon carried the war beyond the Aegean and won his most famous victory at the mouth of the Enrymedon, in Pamphylia (map following page 132), where in one day he destroyed a Persian land host and captured a fleet of 250 vessels. 193. Naturally, the League grew in size. It came to include nearly all the islands of the Aegean and the cities of the northern and eastern coasts. The cities on the straits and shores of the Black Sea, too, were added, and the rich trade of that region streamed through the Hellespont to the Piraeus. After the victory of the Eur^^medon, many of the cities of the Cai'ian and Lycian coasts joined the confederacy. Indeed, the cities of the league felt that all other Greeks of the Aegean 1 Like our states in Congress nnder the old Articles of Confederation. 2 There is an interesting account of Cimon (three pages) in Davis' Read- ings, Vol. I, No. 74, from Plutarch's Life. § 195] THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE 197 and of neighboring waters were 2mder obligation to join, since they all had part in the blessings of the union. Aristophanes speaks of a " thousand cities " in the league, but only two hun- dred and eighty are known by name. 194. Some members of the League soon began to shirk. As soon as the pressing danger and the first entlmsiam were over, many cities chose to pay more money, instead of famishing ships and men. They became indifferent, too, about the congress, and left the management of all matters to Athens. Athens, on the other hand, was ambitious, and eagerly accepted both burdens and responsibilities. The fleet became almost wholly Athenian. Then it was no longer necessary for Athens to consult the allies as to the management of the war, and the congress became of little consequence. Another change wa.s still more important. Here and there, cities began to refuse even the payment of money. This, of course, was secession. Such cities said that Persia was no longer dangerous, and that the need of the league was over. But the Athenian fleet, patrolling the Aegean, was all that kept the Persians from reappearing; and Athens, with good reason, held the allies by force to their promises. The first attempt at secession came in 467, when the union was only ten years old. Naxos, one of the most powerful islands, refused to pay its contributions. Athens at once attacked Naxos, and, after a stern struggle, brought it to sub- mission. But the conquered state teas not allowed to return into the union. It lost its vote in the congress, and became a mere subject of Athens. 195. The "Athenian Empire." — From time to time, other members of the league attempted secession, and met a fate like that of Naxos. Athens took away their fleets, leveled their walls, made them pay a small tribute. Sometimes such a city had to turn over its citadel to an Athenian garrison. Usually a subject city was left to manage its internal govern- ment in its own way ; but it could no longer have political alliances with other cities. 198 THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP [§196 Just how many such rebellions there were we do not know; but before long the loyal cities found themselves treated much like those that had rebelled. The confederacy of equal states became an empire, icith Athens for its ^'ti/rant city.''^ The meetings of the congress ceased altogether. The treasury was removed from Delos to Athens, and the funds and resources of the union were nsed for the glory of Athens. Athens, however, did continue to perform faithfully the work for which the union had been created; and on the whole, despite the strong tendency to city independence, the subject cities seem to have been well content. Even hostile critics con- fessed that the bulk of the people looked gratefully to Athens for protection against the oligarchs. Athens was the true mother of Ionian democracy. As an Athenian orator said, "Athens ivas the champion of the masses, denying the right of the many to be at the mercy of the few." In nearly every city of the empire the ruling power became an Assembly like that at Athens. By 450 B.C. Lesbos, Chios, and Samos were the only states of the league which had not become "subject states" ; and even tliey had no voice in the government of the empire. Athens, however, had other independent allies that had never belonged to the Delian Confederacy — like riataea, Corcyra, Naupactus, and Acarnania in Greece ; Rhegium in Italy ; and Segesta and other Ionian cities in Sicily. For Further Readixg. — SpeciaJh/ suggested : The only passage in Davis' Beadings for this period is Vol. I, No. 74, on Cimon. Bury, 228- 242, covers the period. Instead of Bury, the student may well read Chapter 1 in Cox's Athenian Empire. Plutarch's Themistocles and Aristides continue to be valuable for additional reading. FIRST PERIOD OF STRIFE WITH SPARTA, 4(51-445 b.c. 196. Jealousy between Athens and Sparta. — Greece had di- vided into two great leagues, under the lead of Athens and Sparta. These two powers now quarreled, and their strife made the history of Hellas for many years. The first hostile step came from Sparta. In 4:65, Thasos, a member of the § 199] FIRST STRIFE WITH SPARTA 199 Confederacy of Delos, revolted; and Athens was employed for two years in conquering her. During the struggle, Thasos asked Sparta for aid. Sparta and Athens were still nominally in alliance, under the league of Plataea (§ 186) ; but Sparta grasped at the opportunity and secretly began preparations to invade Attica. 197. Athenian Aid for Sparta. — This treacherous attack was prevented by a terrible earthquake which destroyed part of Sparta and threw the whole state into confusion. The Helots revolted, and INtessenia (§ 127) made a desperate attempt to re- gain her independence. Instead of attacking Athens, Sparta, in dire need, called upon her for aid. At Athens this request led to a sharp dispute. The demo- cratic party, led by Ephialtes ^ and Pericles, was opposed to sending help; but Cinion (§ 192), leader of the aristocratic |)arty, urged that the true policy was for Sparta and Athens to aid each other in keeping a joint leadership of Hellas. Athens, he said, ought not to let her yoke-fellow be destroyed and Greece be lamed. This generous advice prevailed; and Cimon led an Athenian army to Sparta's aid. 198. An Open Quarrel. — A little later, however, the Spartans began to suspect the Athenians, groundlessly, of the same bad faith of which they knew themselves guilty, and sent back the army with insult. Indignation then ran high at Athens ; and the anti-Spartan party was greatly strengthened. Cimon was ostracized (461 b.c), and the aristocratic faction was left leaderless and helpless for many years. At almost the same time Ephialtes was murdered by aristo- crat conspirators. Thus, leadership fell to Pericles. Under his influence Athens formally renounced her alUcince with Sparta. Then the two great powers of Greece stood in open opposition, ready for war. 199. A Land Empire for Athens. — Thus far the Athenian empire had been mainly a sea power. Pericles planned to 1 This, of course, was uot the Ephialtes of Thermopylae. 200 THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP 200 extend it likewise over inland Greece, and so to supplant Sparta. He easily secured an alliance with Argos, Sparta's sleepless foe. He established Athenian influence also in Thes- saly, by treaties with the great chiefs there, and thus secured the aid of the famous Thessalian cavalry. Then Megara, on the Isthmus of Corinth, sought Athenian alliance, in order to protect itself against Corinth, its power- ful neighbor. This in- volved war with Corinth, but Pericles gladly wel- comed IVIegara because of its ports on the Corinthian Gulf. He then built long walls running the whole width of the narrow isth- nuisfrom seato sea, joining ^legara and these ports. In control of these w^alls, Athens could prevent in- vasion by land from the Pelo])onnesus. 200. Activity of Athens. — A rush of startling Pericles. ^^^^^^^ followed. Corinth A portrait bust, now in the Vatican at Rome. ^^^ Aegina, bitterly angry because their old commerce had now been drawn to the Piraeus, declared war on Athens. Athens promptly captured Aegina, and struck Corinth blow after blow even in the Corinthian Gulf. At the same time, without lessening her usual fleet in the Aegean, she sent a mighty armament of 250 ships to carry on the war against Persia, by assisting Egypt in a revolt. Such a fleet called for from 2500 to 5000 soldiers and 50,000 sailors.^ 1 A Greek warship of this period was called a " three-banker" {trireme), because she was rowed by oarsmen arranged on three benches, one above 200] ATHENIAN ACTIVITY 201 The sailors came largely from the poorer citizens, and even from the non-citizen class. Pericles turned next to Boeotia, and set up friendly democ- racies in many of the cities there to lessen the control of oli- garchic and hostile Thebes. The quarrel with Sparta had Side of Part of a Trireme. — From a relief at Athens. In this trireme the highest " bank " of rowers rested their oars ou the gunwale. Only the oars of the other two banks are visible. become open war ; and an Athenian fleet burned the Laconian dock-yards. A Spartan army crossed the Corinthian Gulf and another. The wars which the Greeks waged in these three-bankers were hardly more fierce than those that modern scholars have waged — in ink — about them. Some have held that each group of three oarsmen held only one oar. This view is now abandoned — because of the evidence of the "reliefs" on Greek monuments. Plainly each group of three had three separate oars, of different lengths ; but we do not know yet how they could have worked them successfully. The oars projected through port-holes, and the 174 oarsmen were protected from arrows by the wooden sides of the vessel. Sometimes — as in the illustration above — the upper bank of rowers had no protection. There were about 20 other sailors to each ship, for helmsman, lookouts, overseers of the oarsmen, and so on. And a warship never carried less than ten fully armed soldiers. The Athenians usually sent from 20 to 25 in each ship. The ships were about 120 feet long, and less than 20 feet wide. The two masts were always lowered for battle. Two methods of attack were in use. If possible, a ship crushed in the side of an opponent by ramming with its sharp bronze prow. This would sink the enemy's ship at once. Almost as good a thing was to run close along her side (shipping one's own oars on that side just in time), shivering her long oars and hurling her rowers from the benches. This left a shii) as helpless as a bird with a broken wing. 202 THE GREEKS — ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP [§ 201 appeared in l^oeotia, to check Athenian progress there. It won a partial victory at Tanagra (map after page 98), — tlie first real battle between the two states, — but immediately retreated into the Peloponnesus. The Athenians at once reappeared in the field, crushed the Thebans in a great battle at Oenophyta, and became masters of all Boeotia. At the same time Phocis and Locris allied themselves to Athens, so that she seemed in a fair way to extend her land empire over all central Greece, — to which she now held the two gates, Thermopylae and the passes of the isthmus. A little later Achaea, in the Pelo- ponnesus itself, was added to the Athenian league. The activity of Athens at this period is marvelous. It is impossible even to mention the many instances of her matchless energy and splendid daring for the few years after 4()0, while the empire was at its height. For one instance : just when Athens' hands were fullest in Egypt and in the siege of Aegina, Corinth tried a diversion by invading the territory of ^Nlegara. Athens did not recall a man. She armed the youths and the old men ])ast age of service, and repelled the invaders. The Corinthians, stung by shame, made a sec- ond, more determined attem})t, ami were again repulsed Avith great slaughter. It was at this time, too, that the city com- pleted her fortifications, by building the Long Walls from Athens to her ports (maps, pages 180 and 189). These walls were 80 feet high and 12 feet thick. They made Athens abso- lutely safe from a siege, so long as she kept her supremacy on the sea ; and they added to the city a large open space where the country people might take refuge in case of invasion. 201. Loss of the Land Empire. — How one city could carry on all these activities is ahnost beyond comprehension. Put the resources of Athens were severely strained, and a sudden series of stunning blows well-nigh exhausted her. The expedi- tion to Egypt had at first been brilliantly successful,^ but un- foreseen disaster followed, and the 250 ships and the whole 1 Athenian success here would have shut Persia off eouipletely from the Mediterranean, and so from all possible contact with Europe. §203] THE POWER OF ATHENS 203 army in Egypt were lost.^ This stroke would have annihilated any other Greek state, and it was followed by others. Megara, which had itself invited an Athenian garrison, now treacher- ously massacred it and joined the Peloponnesian league. A Spartan army then entered Attica through Megara; and, at the same moment, Eiiboea burst into revolt. All Boeotia, too, except Plataea, fell away. The oligarchs won the upper hand in its various cities, and joined themselves to Sparta. 202. The Thirty Years' Truce. — The activity and skill of Pericles saved Attica and Euboea; but the inland possessions and alliances were for the most part lost, and in 445 b.c. a Thirty Fears' Truce was concluded with Sparta. A little be- fore this, the long war with Persia had closed. For fifteen years Athens had almost unbroken peace. Then the truce between Sparta and Athens was broken, and the great Peloponnesian War began (§§ 241 ff.). That struggle ruined the power of Athens and the promise of Greece. There- fore, before entering upon its story, we will stop here for a survey of Greek civilization at this period of its highest glory, in Athens, its chief center. For Further Reading. — Specially suggested: Davis' Beadings, Vol. I, Nos. 73-75 (4 pages); Bury, 352-363. Additional: Cox's Athe- nian Empire^ and the opening cliapters of Grant's Greece in the Age of Pericles. THE EMPIRE AND THE IMPERIAL CITY IN PEACE 203. Three Forms of Greatness. — Athens had great material power and a high political development and wonderful intellectual greatness. The last is what she especially stands for in history. But the first two topics have already been partly discussed, and may be best disposed of here before the most important one is taken up. A. Military Strength The Athens of the fifth century was a great state in a higher sense than most of the kingdoms of the Middle Ages. . . . For the space of a 1 Special report. 204 TMK (ilv'KKKS A'l'IIMNIAN LKADKKSIl 1 !» |§ JOI half (■(iifiirii hrr poirn- ira.s (jiii/r on a juir irith tlutt of rrrsiit, . . . und the .[(hciiitni Knipirv is fhc (rnr pn cursor of t/iosi- of Mactdonid and lionw. lloi.M, II, L'M). 204. Material Power.- — Tlu' last, real ('li:in('(» for a iinilccl llcllas j»asst'(l away when Athens lost^cont rol of ('(Mitral (Jrcccc. Hut at. th(^ inoMKMit. tlu^ loss of land empiric did not. sctMu to lessen Athens' streiiijft.h. She had saved her sea (Mupire, and eonsolidaied it. nioi-e tiianly than evei-. Ami, for (t (jcucrd- fioii niorr, the (/neks of t/htt empire ircre tin' /iutdcrs of the ii'orld ill poircr, (ts in rn/fuir. 'They ha.d proved themselves more than Ji niaieh lor I'ersia. The mere mai;ie ol" tlie AtluMiian name sntlieed to keep ( 'art ha_<;"e from renewing- her a.t.t.a.ek upon tlu^ Sicilian (ireeks. The Athenian colonies in TIhjuh'* easily held in cheek the risins^ Macedonian kingdom. Konie, whic^h three ctMituries later was to absorb Hellas into her world-enipii-e, was still a. barbarous villa,L,'e on the Tiber baidv. In the middle ol" the tifth c(>nliiry n.c. (he renter of poirer in the leorld ints impe- rial Af/iens. 205. Population. — The cities ol" tin* (Mujiirc counted sonu' three millions of jx'ople. The numluM- seems small to us ; but. it must be k(*])t in mind that the popiihdioii of the irorld iras mneh siiidlier then tJmn iioir, and that the Athenian empire was made up o\ cultured, weallh\', progressive communities. To be sui'c, slaves made a. lar^'c fraction of this [)Opulation. Attica itstdf contained about on(> tenth of tlu> inhabitants o{ tht» whole empire, perba|>s .'>0(),000 peopU* (about as many as live in Minn(*a.polis). (>f tlu>se, om* fourth W(>re slaves, and a sixth were aliens. This left somt» 17r>,0()0 citizens, of whom perhaps or>,0(H) wer(> men i\t for sol(li(M-s. ()utsidt> Attica, thtM-e were 75,000 nu>re citizens, \\\o elernelis (§ IIS\ whom l*eri(d(>s had s(>nt to uarrison ontlyiui^ parts of the empire. 206. Colonies. The cleru(dis, nidike othiu- (Ireek colonists, kept all the ri>;hts o{ citi/enship. Tlu^v had their own local Assemblies, to niana,L;(» t he affairs of each colony. Hut t hey kept also their enrolbuent in the :\ttic denies and eoidd vote upon the afTairs of .Vthens and <.>f the empire thoinjh not niiles,'^ § 2()S| TIIK I'OWKK OP ATHKNS 205 tlu'ii ranw, tr(M- (;laHH(!H, and were, iiidiKM'.d lo j^o out to ili(; im^vv H(;tlJ(ui)cjit,H t)y tlic. j^if't; of" lands Kunici«;nt; to raiH7j. Konn; (topictd this jd;in a fM^ntury lator. (JtlMiiwisc^, ///« wurhi wan not to .vm (i(/a,in, ho tlhcnil ed to S(J()(),()00. This trihutcj was fairly assessejl, and it bore lightly iijion tlie ju-osjxu-ous (ir<;ek eommunitieH. 7'///^ Asiatic (j/rack.H p(wl only one mxlli, an inncJt as they hod forincrbi pi(jt(!etion been iemov(*d. Ind(;(;(i, the whole amount diawn fVoni th(i HuV)jeot cities would not ke(!p one hundred shijjs maniKid and equipped for a yttar, to say nothin^^ of building; them. VVlien we, rejuember the standing navy in th(j Ae^(tan and the ^re.at arnjaments tliat Athens sent refx-al^edly against Persia, it is [)lain that slie con- tinued to be.;ii- her full shaie, of the imjH-iial bui-den. She kept her (;mpir(; b<*.e,:uise. she. did not rob hei- <|e,pen<]encieH — as most <;m|jij'es had don(^, and w(.'re to do for tw(j thousand y(;ars long(;r. li. (ioVKItN'MKXT 208. Steps in Development. — S(;v(^nty years liad passed Ix;- tw(;e.n th(i r(d'oi'ms of ('listhenes and tlie. true,e with Sparta. 'I'he. main steps of pro^rtjss in ^(jvernment were fiv(^ Th(; (jfii(^e of (Jtinorol had ^rown gre.atly in imj>ortan(;e„ The AH.HfiwMi/ had e,xtend(;d its authority ti(»>'^M8 — present condition. sometimes misused, to abuse men like Pericles and Socrates. Still, its great master, Aristophanes, for his wit and genius, must always remain one of the bright names in literature. 222. The Theater. — Every Greek city had its "theaters." A theater was a semicircular arrangement of rising seats, often cut into a hillside, with a small stage at the open side of the circle for the actors. There was no inclosed building, ex- cept sometimes a few rooms for the actors, and there was modern. Sophocles and Shakespeare differ somewhat as the Parthenon differs from a vast cathedral. In a Greek play the scene never changed, and all the action had to be such as could have taken place in one day. That is, the "unities" of time and place were strictly preserved, while the small num- ber of actors made it easy to maintain also a " unity of action." 220 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC^ ATHENS [§223 none of the gorgeous stage scenery which has become a chief feature of our theaters. Neither did the Greek theater run every night. Performances took place at only two periods in the year — at the spring and autumn festivals to Diony- sus — for about a week each season ; and the performance of course had to be in the daytime. The great Theater of Dionysus, in Athens, was on the south- east slope of the Acropolis — the rising seats, cut in a semicircle into the rocky bluff, looking forth, beyond the stage, to the hills of southern Attica and over the blue waters of the Aegean. It could seat almost the whole free male population.^ Pericles secured from the public treasury the admission fee to the Theater for each citizen who chose to ask for it. This use of " theater money " was altogether different from the payment of officers and jurors. It must be kept in mind that the Greek stage was the modern pidpit and press in one. The practice of free admission was designed to advance religious and intellectual training, rather than to give amuse- ment. It was a kind of pnblic education for groivn-up people. 223. Oratory was highly developed. Among no other people has public speaking been so important and so effective. Its special home was Athens. For almost two hundred years, from Themistocles to Demosthenes (§ 272), great statesmen swayed the Athenian state by the power of sonorous and thrill- ing eloquence ; and the emotional citizens, day after day, packed the Pnyx to hang breathless for hours upon the persuasive lips of their leaders. The art of public speech was studied zeal- ously by all who hoped to take part in public affairs. Unhappily, Pericles did not preserve his orations. The one quoted below (§ 229) seems to have been recast by Thucydides in his own style. But fortunately we do still have many of the orations of Demosthenes, of the next century ; and from them we can understand how the union of fiery passion, and 1 The stone seats were not carved out of the hill until somewhat later. During the a.ije of Pericles, the men of Athens sat on the ground, or on stools which they brought with them, all over the hillside. 225] HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY 221 convincing logic, and polished beauty of language, made oratory rank with the drama and with art as the great means of public education for Athenians. 224. History Prose literature now appears, with history as its leading form. The three great historians of the period are Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xe?AOj)/io/i. For charm in story-telling they have never been excelled. Herodotus was a native of Halicarnassus (a city of Asia Minor). He traveled widely, lived long at Athens as the friend of Pericles, and finally in Italy composed his great Hf story of the Persian Wars, with an introduc- tion covering the w^orld's history up to that event. Thucydides, an Athenian general, wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War (§§ 241 ff.) in which he took part. Xenophon be- longs rather to the next century. He also was an Athenian. He completed the story of the Peloponnesian War, and gave us, with other works, the Anabasis, an account of the expedition of the Ten Thousand Greeks through the Persian empire in 401 b.c. (§ 257). 225. Philosophy.^ — The age of Pericles saw also a rapid ""development in philosophy, — and this movement, too,, had Athens for its most important home. Anaxagoras of Ionia, 1 This section can best be read in class, and talked over. It may well be preceded by a reading of § 15G upon the earlier Greek philosophy. Thucydides. A portrait bust ; now in the Capitoline Museum at Rome. 222 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC ATHENS [§ 225 the friend of Pericles, taught that the ruling principle in the universe was Mind: "In the beginning all things were chaos; then came Intelligence, and set all in order." He also tried to explain comets and other strange natural phenomena, which had been looked upon as miraculous. But, like Democritus and Empedocles of the same period, Anaxagoras turned in the main from the old question of a fundamental principle to a new problem. The philosophers of the sixth century had tried to answer the question, — How did the universe come to be ? The philosophers of the age of Pericles asked mainly, — How does man know about the uni- verse ? That is, they tried to explain the ivorking of the human mind. These early attempts at explanation were not very satisfactory, and so next came the Sophists, with a skeptical philosophy. Man, the Sophists held, cannot reach truth itself, but must be content to know only ai^pearances. They taught rhetoric, and were the first of the philosophers to accept pay.^ Socrates, the founder of a new philosophy, is sometimes con- founded with the Sophists. Like them, he abandoned the attempt to understand the material universe, and ridiculed gently the attempted explanations of his friend, Anaxagoras. He took for his motto, " Know thyself and considered philoso- phy to consist in right thinking upon human conduct. True wisdom, he taught, is to know what is good and to do what is right; and he tried to make his followers see the difference between justice and injustice, temperance and intemperance, virtue and vice. Thus Socrates completes the circle of ancient philosophy. The whole development may be summed up briefly, as follows : -^ 1. Thales and his followers (§ 156) tried to find out how the world came to be — out of what " first principle " it arose (water, fire, etc.). 1 Thus these philosophers were accused of advertising for gain, to teach youth "how to make the worse appear the better reason," and the name "sophist" received an evil significance. Many of the Sophists, however, were brilliant thinkei's, who did much to clear away old mental rubbish. The most famous were Gorgias, the rhetorician, a Sicilian Greek at Athens, and his pupil, Isocrates. § 227] SOCRATES 223 2. Anaxagoras and his contemporaries tried to find out how man's mind couhl understand the outside world. (His teaching that mind was the real principle of the universe formed a natural step from 1 to 2.) 3. The Sophists declared all search for such explanations a failure — beyond the power of the human mind. 4. Socrates sought to know, not about the outside world at all, but about himself and his duties. 226. The Man Socrates. — Socrates was a poor man, an artisan who carved little images of the gods for a living ; and he con- stantly vexed his wife, Xanthippe, by neglecting his trade, to talk in the market place. He wore no sandals, and dressed meanly. His large bald head and ugly face, with its thick lips and flat nose, made him good sport for the comic poets. His practice was to entrap unwary antagonists into public con- versation by asking^ innocent-iooking questions, and then, by the inconsistencies of their answers, to show how shallow their opinions were. This proceeding afforded huge merriment to the crowd of youths who followed the bare-footed philosopher, and it made him bitter enemies among his victims. But his method of argument (which we still call " the Socratic method ") was a permanent addition to our intellectual weapons ; and his beauty of soul, his devotion to knowledge, and his largeness of spirit make him the greatest name in Greek history. When seventy years old (399 b.c.) he was accused of impiety and of corrupting the youth. He refused to defend himself in any ordinary way, and was therefore declared guilty. His accusers then proposed a death penalty. It was the privilege of the condemned man to propose any other penalty, and let the jury choose between the two. Instead of proposing a considerable fine, as his friends wished, Socrates said first that he really ought to propose that he be maintained in honor at the public expense, but, in deference to his friends' entreaties, he finally proposed a small fine. The angered jury, by a close vote, pro- nounced the death penalty. 227. Socrates on Obedience to Law and on Immortality. — Socrates refused also to escape before the day for his execution. 224 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTLSTIC ATHENS [§ 22V Friends had made arrangements for his escape, but he answered their earnest entreaties by a playful discourse, of which the substance was, — " Death is no evil ; but for Socrates to ' play truant,' and injure the laws of his country, would be an evil." After memorable conversations upon immortality, he drank the fatal hemlock with a gentle jest npon his lips.^ His execution is the greatest blot upon the intelligence of the Athenian democracy. It happened that the trial had taken place just before the annual sailing of a sacred ship to Delos to a festival of Apollo. According to Athenian law, no execution could take place until the return of this vessel. Thus for thirty days, Socrates remained in jail, conversing daily in his usual manner with groups of friends who visited him. Two of his disciples (Plato and Xeno})hou) have given us accounts of these talks. On the last day, the theme was immortality.' Some of the friends fear that death may be an endless sleep, or that the soul, on leaving the body, may " issue forth like smoke . . . and vanish into nothingness." But Socrates comforts and consoles them, — convincing them, by a long day's argument, that the soul is immortal, and })icturing the lofty delight he anticipates in a])plying his Socratic questionings to the heroes and sages of olden times, when he meets them soon in the abode of the blest. Then, just as the fatal hour arrives, one of the company (Crito) asks, " In what way would you have us bury you ? " Socrates rejoins : — " ' In any way you like : only you must first get hold of me, and take care that I do not walk away from you.' Then he turned to us, and added, with a smile : ' I cannot make Crito believe that I am the same Socrates who has been talking with you. He fancies that I am another Socrates whom he will soon see a dead body — and he asks, How shall he bury me? I have spoken many words to show that I shall leave you and go to the joys of the blessed ; but these words, with which I comforted you, have had, I see, no effect upon Crito. And so I want you to be 1 Special report: the trial and death of Socrates. See Plato's Apology, Xenophou's MemorabUia, and other accounts. § 228] SUMMARY 225 surety for me now, as Crito was surety [bail] for me at my trial, — but with another sort of promise. For he promised the judges that I would remain ; but you must be my surety to him that I shall not remain. Then he will not be grieved when he sees merely my body burned or buried, I would not have him sorrow at my lot, or say, Thus we follow Socrates to the grave ; for false words such as these infect the soul. Be of good cheer, then, my dear Crito, and say that you are burying my body only — and do with that what is usual, or as you think best.' " ^ 228. Summary. - The amazing extent and intensity of Athenian culture overpower the imagination. With few exceptions, the The Acropolis, as *' restored " by Lambert. famous men mentioned in §§ 220-225 were Athenian citizens. In the fifth century B.C. that one city gave birth to more great men of the first rank, it has been said, than the tchole ivorld has ever produced in any other equal 'period of time. Artists, philosophers, and writers swarmed to Athens, also, from less-favored parts of Hellas ; for, despite the condemnation of Socrates, no other city in the world afforded such freedom of thought, and nowhere else was ability, in art or literature, 1 Anecdotes of Socrates are given in 'Ddi.vis^ Readings , Vol. I, Nos. 89-92. 226 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC ATHENS [§ 229 so appreciated. The names that have been mentioned give but a faint impression of the splendid throngs of brilliant poets, artists, philosophers, and orators, who jostled each other in the streets of Athens. This, after all, is the best justification of the Athenian democracy. Abbott {History of Greece, II, 415), one of its sternest modern critics, is forced to exclaim, " Never before or since has life developed so richly as it developed in the beautiful city which lay at the feet of the virgin goddess." ^ 229. The Tribute of Pericles to Athens. — The finest glorification of the Athenian spirit is contained in the great funeral oration delivered by Pericles over the Athenian dead, at the close of the second year of the Peloponnesian War. Thucydides gives the speech and represents no doubt the ideas, if not the words, of the orator : — " And we have not forgotten to provide for our weary spirits many relaxations from toil. We have our regular games and sacrifices through- out the year ; at home the style of our life is refined, and the delight which we daily feel in all these things helps to banish melancholy. Be- cause of the greatness of our city, the fruits of the whole earth flow in upon us ; so that we enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as of our own. . . . " And in the matter of education, whereas our adversaries from early youth are always undergoing laborious exercises which are to make them brave, we live at ease, and yet are equally ready to face the perils which they face. ... If then we prefer to meet danger with a light heart but without laborious training, and with a courage whicli is gained by habit and not enforced by law, are we not greatly the gainers ? " We are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes; and we culti- vate the mind without loss of manliness. Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when there is a real use for it. To avow poverty with us is no disgrace ; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household ; and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics. We alone regard a man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as a harmless, but as a use- less character. . . . 1 The patron deity of Athens was Pallas Athene, the virgin goddess, whose temple, the Parthenon, crowned the Acropolis. § 230] LIMITATIONS 227 "In the hour of trial Athens alone is superior to the report of her. No enemy who comes against her is indignant at the reverses which he sustains at the hands of such a city ; no subject complains that his masters are unworthy of him. And we shall assuredly not be without witnesses. There are mighty monuments of our power which will make us the wonder of this and of succeeding ages. . . . For we have com- pelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. . . . "To sum up : I say that Athens is the school of Hellas, and that the individual Athenian in his own person seems to have the power of adapt- ing himself to the most varied forms of action with the utmost versatility and grace. . . . '■'■ I looiild have you day by day fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens, until you become filled with the love of her ; and when you are impressed by the spectacle of her glory, reflect that this empire has been acquired by men who knew their duty and had the courage to do it, and who in the hour of conflict had the fear of dishonor always present to them. . . ." 230. Three limitations in Greek culture must be noted. a. It rested necessarily on slavery, and consequently could not honor labor, as modern culture at least tries to do. The main business of the citizen was government and war. Trades and commerce were left largely to the free non-citizen class, and unskilled hand labor was performed mainly by slaves. As a rule, it is true, this slavery was not harsh. In Athens, ordinarily, the slaves were hardly to be distinguished from the poorer citizens. They were frequently Greeks, of the same speech and culture as their masters. In some ways, this made their lot all the harder to bear; and there was always the possibility of cruelty. In the mines, even in Attica, the slaves were killed off brutally by merciless hardships. b. Greek culture tvas for males only. It is not probable that the wife of Phidias or of Thucydides could read. The women of the working classes, especially in the country, necessarily mixed somewhat with men in their work. But among the well-to-do, women had lost the freedom of the simple and rude 228 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC ATHENS [§ 230 society of Homer's time, without gaining much in return. Ex- cept at Sparta, where physical training was thought needful Women at their Toilet. — From a vase painting. for them, they passed a secluded life even at home, in sepa- rate women's apartments. They had no public interests, ap- Women at their Toilet. — The rest of the vase painting shown above. peared rarely on the streets, and never met their husbands' friends. At best, they were only higher domestic servants. The chivalry of the mediaeval knight toward woman and the 230] LIMITATIONS 229 love and respect of the C'liristian man in general for his wife were equally unthinkable by the best Greek society. This rule is merely emphasized by its one exception. No account of the Athens of Pericles would be complete without the mention of Aspasia. She was a native of Miletus and came to Athens as a perfect stranger. But she succeeded in winning the love of Pericles. He married her, though being a foreigner she could not figure as his wife before the Athenian Law. Her dazzling beauty and wit made his house the focus of a large circle of prominent men. Anaxagoras, Socrates, Phidias, Herodotus, the charm- ing group of brilliant friends of Pericles, delighted in her con- versation. Pericles consulted her on the most important public matters. But she is almost the only woman who need be named in Greek history. c. The most intellectual Greeks of that age had not thought of finding out the truths of nature by experiment. The ancients had chiefly such knowledge of the world about them as they had chanced upon, or such as they could attain by observation of nature as she showed herself to them. To ask questions, and make nature answer them by systematic experiment, is a method of reaching knowledge which in its widest develop- ment belongs to later times. But, before the Greeks, men had reached about all the mastery over nature that was possible without that method. This limitation had a remarkable consequence, namely the simplicity, nay almost complete absence, of those material com- forts which rest upon the many inventions and discoveries of later centuries. There were no railroads nor telegraphs — not Greek Women at their Music From a vase painting. 230 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC ATHENS [§ 231 to speak of wireless communication — no electric or gas lights, no refrigerator cars or even ice boxes. Even the best houses were without plumbing or drains of any sort ; beds without sheets or springs ; rooms without fire ; traveling without bridges ; clothes without buttons or even a hook and eye. The Greek had to tell time without a watch, and to cross the seas without a compass. This fact, however, is rather instructive than bewildering. There is a higher civilization, more essential than merely material achievements. A band of robbers is not civilized, if it uses a train of automobiles or establishes telephonic connec- tion between its various headquarters. The Greeks excelled in intellectual civilization, which has a much nobler claim, because of its nearer relation to man's spiritual nature. For hours the entire population of Greek cities could listen to and enjoy such high class drama as those of the Hellenic masters. In our days only the educated are able to appreciate these plays. The average Athenian no doubt excelled the average man of our times in brain power, and the Greek mind performed wonders in literature and art and philosophy. It is through features like these that Greek life has had such a lasting influence upon all later ages. The lack of control over nature had another serious draw- back. Without our modern scientific knowledge and modern machinery it had never been possible for man to produce wealth fast enough so that many could take sufficient leisure for refined and graceful living. Even with us this ability is not accompanied by a proper distribution of our wealth, too much of which remains in the hands of a proportionately small number. In the Greek system it seems to have been still less possible to give to many an ample share. There was too little to go round. The material civilization of the rela- tively few rested necessarily on slavery. 231. The Moral Side of Greek civilization falls considerably short of the intellectual. The two religions, of the clan and of the Olympian gods, both kept their hold upon the people §232] MORAL IDEALS 231 even in the age of Pericles. But neither had much to do with moral conduct. The good sense and clear thinking of the Greeks had preserved their religion, whatever they understood by this term, from many of the repulsive features found in Oriental beliefs. But their moral ideas are to be sought rather in their philosophy, literature, and history than in their mythological stories. In fact they could learn little morality from the example given to them by the Olympians (§ 111). The Greeks accepted a rather unlimited search for pleasures as natural and proper. Self-sacrifice had little place in their moral code. They lacked altogether the Jewish and Christian sense of sin. Even the Babylonians were far ahead of them in this matter (§ 53). Their chief motive for right conduct, as far as it Avent, was a certain admiration, based on natural grounds, of moderation and temperance. Individual char- acters at once lofty and lovable were not numerous. Trickery and deceit mark most of the greatest names, and not even physical or moral bravery can be called a national character- istic. The wily Themistocles, rather than Socrates or Pericles, is the typical Greek. As in literature and arts so in moral corruption were the Greeks the teachers of Eome. In beautiful Hellas grew up that degradation which in due time was to spread along the shores of the Mediterranean. It was to reach maturity when adopted by the future masters of the world. At the same time some Greek teachers inculcate morality. They found in themselves the courage to listen to the voice of their conscience and to assert what they saw was right. They may have caught the dim rays of original revelation, or ob- tained inspiration from the sacred books of the Jews. Yet none of these men in any way reached the Jewish and Christian ideals. 232. Illustrative Extracts. — The following passages illustrate the moral ideas of the best of the Greeks. They are taken from Athenian writers of the age of Pericles, and represent the mountain peaks of Greek thought, by no means its average level. 232 INTELLECTUAL AND ARTISTIC ATHENS [§232 a. From Aeschylus. " The lips of Zeus know not to speak a lying speech." " Justice shines in smoke-grimed houses and holds in regard the life that is righteous ; she leaves with averted eyes the gold-bespangled palace which is unclean, and goes to the abode that is holy." h. Antigone, the heroine of a play by Sophocles, has knowingly in- curred penalty of death by disobeying an unrighteous command of a wicked king. She justifies her deed proudly, — " Nor did I deem thy edicts strong enough That thou, a mortal man, should'st overpass The unwritten laws of God that knoio no change.'' c. From Socrates to his Judges after his condemnation to death (Plato's Apology). — "Wherefore, O judges, be of good cheer about death, and know this of a truth — that no evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods. . . . The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways — 1 to die, you to live. Which is better, God only knows." d. From Plato (the greatest disciple of Socrates, § 315). — " My coun- sel is that we hold fast ever to the heavenly way and follow justice and virtue. . . . Thus we shall live dear to one another and to the gods, both while remaining here, and when, like conquerors in the games, we go to receive our reward." e. A Prayer of Socrates (from Plato's Phaedrus). — "Beloved Pan, and all ye other gods who haunt this place, give me beauty in the inward soul ; and may the outward and inward man be at one. May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy, and may I have such a quantity of gold as none but the temperate can carry." (The quotations from Socrates' tallvs after his condemnation, given in § 227 above, give more material of this kind. Fuller passages will be found in Davis' Headings, Vol. I, Nos. 89-92.) For Further Reading. — Specially suggested : Davis' Readings, Vol. 1, Nos. 76-80 (11 pages, mostly from Plutarch and Thucydides) ; and Nos. 88-97 (24 pages) ; Bury, 363-378. Additional : Valuable and very readable treatments will be found in any of the three excellent volumes mentioned for the two preceding topics, — Cox's Athenian Empire. Plutarch's Pericles ought to be in- viting, from the extracts in Davis' Readings. §232] MORAL IDEALS 233 Exercise. — Count up and classify the kinds of sources of our knowl- edge about the ancient world, —so far as this book has alluded to sources of information. Note here the suggestions for ^'■fact-drills,''^ on page 299, and begin to prepare the lists. CHAPTER XIV LIFE IN THE AGE OF PERICLES 233. Houses, even those of the rich, were very simple. The poor could not afford more ; and the rich man thought his house of little account. It was merely a place to keep his women folk and young children and some other valuable property, and to sleep in. His real life was passed outside. A "well-to-do" house was built with a wooden frame, cov- ered with sun-dried clay. Such buildings have not left many remains ; and most of what we know about them comes from brief references in Greek literature. On the opposite page is given the ground plan of one of the few private houses of the fifth century which has been unearthed in a state to be traced out. This house was at Delos ; and it was something of a mansion, for the times. Houses were built flush with the street, and on a level with it, — without even sidewalk or steps between. The door, too, usually opened out — so that passers-by were liable to bumps, unless they kept well to the middle of the narrow street. In this Delos mansion, the street door opened into a small vestibule (A), about six feet by ten. This led to a square " hall " (D, D, D, D), which was the central feature of every Greek house of importance. In the center of the hall there was always a " court," ojjen to the sky, and surrounded by a row of columns. The columns were to uphold their side of the hall ceiling, — since the hall had no wall next the court, but was divided from it only by the columns. In the Delos house, the columns were ten feet high (probably higher than was usual), and the court was paved with a beautiful mosaic. Commonly, however, all floors in private houses, until some three centuries later, were made of concrete. 234 233] THE GREEK HOUSE 235 Under part of the hall were two cellars or cisterns ; and from the hall there opened six more rooms. The largest {H) was the dining room and kitchen, with a small recess for the chimney in one corner. The other rooms were store rooms, or sleeping rooms for male slaves and unmarried sons. Any occasional overflow of guests could be taken care of by couches in the hall. This whole floor was for males only. H w^ D 000,01 , © I Lj iUJ [ Q '-^ Ol D ^ ti D Plan of a Fifth-century Delos House. After Gardiner and Jevons. Some houses (of the very rich) had only one story. In that case there was at the rear a second half for the women, con- nected with the men's half by a door in the partition walL This rear half of the house, in such cases, had its own central hall and open court, and an arrangement of rooms similar to that in the front half. But more commonly, as in the Delos house, there was an upper story for the women, reached by a steep stairway in the lower hall, and projecting, perhaps, part way over the street. Near the street door, on the outside, there was a niche in the wall for the usual statue of Hermes ; and a small niche in room F was used probably as a shrine for some other deity. The doorways of the interior were usually hung with cur- 236 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§234 tains ; but store rooms had doors with bronze locks. Bronze keys are sometimes found in the ruins, and they are pictured in use in vase paintings. The door between the men's and women's apartments was kept locked: only the master of the house, his wife, and j^erhaps a trusted slave, had keys to it. The Delos house had only one outside door; but often there was a rear door into a small, walled garden. City houses were crowded close together, with small chance for windows on the sides. Sometimes narrow slits in the wall opened on the street. Otherwise, except for the one door, the street front was a blank wall. If there were windows on the street at all, they were filled with a close wooden lattice. The Greeks did not have glass panes for windows. The houses were dark ; and most of the dim light came from openings on the central court, through the hall. In cold damp weather (of which, happily, there was not much), the house was exceedingly uncomfortable. The kitchen had a real chimney, with cooking arrangements like those in an- cient Cretan houses (§ 96). But for other rooms the only artificial heat came from small fires of wood or charcoal in braziers, — such as are still carried from room to room, on occa- sion, in Greece or Italy or Spain. The choking fumes Avliich filled the room were not much more desirable than the cold which they did little to drive away. Sometimes a large open fire in the court gave warmth to the hall. At night, earthen- ware lamps, on shelves or brackets, furnished light. There were no bathrooms, and no sanitary conveniences. Poor people lived in houses of one or two rooms. A middle class had houses nearly as large as the one described above ; but they rented the upper story to lodgers. Professional lodg- ing houses had begun to appear, with several stories of small rooms, for unmarried poor men and for slaves who could not find room in the master's house. 234. The residence streets were narrow and irregular, — hardly more than crooked, dark alleys. They had no pave- ment, and they were littered with all the filth and refuse §235] GREEK FAMILY LIFE 237 from the houses. Slops, from upper windows, sometimes doused unwary passers-by. Splendid as were the public por- tions of Athens, the residence quarters were much like a squalid Oriental city of to-day. In the time of Pericles, wealthy men were just beginning to build more comfortably on the hills near the city; but war kept this practice from becoming common till a much later time. W m !■ ^^^^W f ^^L^,/-^ i mM H i ^H Vm ^1 ■ ^^^H Greek Girls at Play. — From a vase paintiug. 235. The Family. — In the Oriental lands which we have studied, a man was at liberty to have as many wives in his household as he chose to support. Poor men usually were content with one ; but, among the rich, polygamy was the rule. A Greek had only one wife. Imperfect as Greek family life was, the state laws recognized " monogamous " marriages only. The Homeric poems give many pictures of lovely family life ; and the Homeric women meet male guests and strangers with a natural dignity and ease. In historic Greece, as we have noted (§ 230), this freedom for women had been lost — except, in some degree, at Sparta. Marriage was arranged by parents. The young people as a rule had never seen each other. Girls were married very young — at fifteen or earlier 238 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§235 — and had no training of any valuable sort. Among the wealthy classes, they spent the rest of their days indoors — except on some rare festival occasions. The model wife learned to oversee the household ; but in many homes this was left to trained slaves, and the wife dawdled away the day list- lessly at her toilet or in vacant idleness. The vase pictures show her commonly with a mirror. Unwholesome living led to excessive use of red and white paint, and other cosmetics, to imitate the complexion of early youth. Law and public opinion allowed the father to " expose " a new-born child to die. This horrible practice of legalized murder was common among the poor. Boys, however, were valued more than girls. They would offer sacrifices, in time, at the father's tomb, arid they could fight for the city. Divorce was lawful, and the husband easily found a sufficient plea for it. With the Greeks, too, matrimony had fallen far from its original perfection. Till the age of seven, boys and girls lived together in the women's apartments. Then the boy began his school life (§ 240). The girl continued her childhood until marriage. Much of her time was spent at music and in games. One very common game was like our " Jackstones," except that it was played with little bones. Not till the evening before her mar- riage did the girl put away her doll, — offering it then solemnly on the shrine of the goddess Artemis. These laws and customs obtained more or less in all Greece. The views and usages of Sparta, however, differed from them in many regards (§ 130). 236. Greek dress is well known, as to its general effect, from pictures and sculpture. Women of the better classes wore flowing garments, fastened at the shoulders with clasp-pins, and gathered in graceful loose folds at the waist. Outside the house, the woman wore also a kind of long mantle, which was often drawn up over the head. The chief article of men's dress was a shirt of linen or wool, which fell about to the knees. For active movements, this was often clasped with a girdle about the waist. Over 237] GREEK DRESS 239 this was draped a long mantle, falling in folds to the feet. This is well shown in the statue of Sophocles, on page 214. Sometimes, this mantle was carried on the arm. The soles of the feet were commonly protected by sandals; but there was also a great variety of other foot gear. Socrates' habit of going barefooted was the rule at Sparta for men under middle age; and some Spartan kings made it their practice all their lives. Even these statements do not make emphatic enough the very simple nature of men's dress. The inner garment was merely a piece of cloth in two oblong parts (sometimes partly sewn together), fastened by pins, so as to hold it on. The outer garment was one oblong piece of cloth, larger and not fastened at all. A Vase Painting, showing the Trojan prince enticing away Helen. The painting is of the fifth century, and shows fashions in dress for that time. 237. Occupations. — Good " society " looked down upon all forms of money-making by personal exertion. A physician who took pay for his services they despised almost as much as they did a carpenter or shoemaker. This attitude is natural to a slaveholding society. Careless thinkers sometimes admire it. But it contains less promise for mankind than does even our modern worship of the dollar, bad as that sometimes is. The Greek wanted money enough to supply all the comforts 240 THE AGE OF PERICLES 237 that he knew about ; but he wanted it to come without his earning it. He was very glad to have slaves earn it for him. Most of the hand labor was busied in tilling the soil. The farmer manured his land skillfully ; but otherwise he made no advance over the Egyptian farmer — who had not been com- pelled to enrich his land. Some districts, like Corinth and Attica, could not furnish food enough for their populations from their own soil. Athens imported grain from other parts Greek Women, in various activities. — From a vase painting. of Hellas and from Thrace and Egypt. This grain was paid for, in the long run, by the export of manufactures. In the age of Pericles, large factories had appeared. (See Davis' Readings, Vol. I, ;N"o. 76, for a list of twenty-five handicrafts connected with the beautifying of the Acropolis.) In these factories, the place taken now by machinery was taken then, in large part, by slaves. The owner of a factory did not com- monly own all the slaves employed in it. Any master of a slave skilled in that particular trade might " rent " him out to the factory by the month or year. In Attica, then, the villages outside Athens were mainly occupied by farmers and farm laborers. Commerce (as well as much manufacturing) was centered in the Piraeus, and was managed directly, for the most part, by the non-citizen class. In Athens, the poorer classes worked at their trades or in their shops from sunrise to sunset — with a holiday about one 238] CLASSES AND INDUSTRIES 241 day in three. Their pay was small, because of the competi- tion of slave labor; but they needed little pay to give them most of the comforts of the rich — except constant leisure. And we must understand that the Greek artisan — sometimes even the slave — took a noble pride 171 his tvork. The stone masons who chiseled out the fluted columns of the Parthenon felt themselves fellow workmen with Phidias who carved the pediments. In general, the Greek workman seems to have worked deliberately and to have found a delight in his work which was so common among the artisans of the Mid- dle Ages in Europe, but which has been largely driven out of modern life by our greater subdivision of labor and by our greater pressure for haste. An Athenian citizen of the wealthy class usually owned lands outside the city, worked by slaves and managed by some trusted steward. Prob- ably he also had capital in- vested in trading vessels, though he was not likely to have any part in managing them. Some revenue he drew from money at interest with the bankers ; and he drew large sums, too, from the " rent " of slaves to the factories. 238. A Day of the Leisure Class. — Like the poorer citizens, the rich man rose with the sun. A slave poured water over his face and hands, or perhaps over his naked body, from a basin. (Poor men like Socrates bathed at the public foun- tains.) He then broke his fast on a cup of wine and a dry crust of l^read. Afterward, perhaps he rode into the country, to visit one of his farms there, or for a day's hunting. If, instead, he remained within the city, he left his house A Barber in Terra-Cotta. From Bliimner. 242 THE AGE OF PERICLES l§238 at once, stopping, probably, at a barber's, to have his beard and finger nails attended to, as well as to gather the latest news from the barber's talk. In any case, the later half of the morning, if not the first part, would find him strolling through the shaded arcades about the market place, among throngs of his fellows, greeting acquaintances and stopping for conversation with friends — with whom, sometimes, he sat on the benches that were interspersed among the colon- nades. At such times, he was al- ways followed by one or two hand- some slave boys, to run errands. At midday, he re- turned home for a light lunch. In the afternoon, he sometimes slept. Or, if a student, he took to his rolls of papyrus. Or, if a statesman, perhaps he prepared his speech for the next meeting of the Assembly. Sometimes, he visited the public gaming houses or the clubs. During the afternoon, — usually toward evening, — he bathed at a public bathing house, hot, cold, or vapor bath, as his taste decided ; and here again he held conversation with friends, while resting, or while the slave attendants rubbed him with oil and ointment. The bath was usually preceded by an hour or more of exercise in a gymnasium. Toward sunset, he once more visited his home, unless he was to dine out. If the evening meal was to be, for a rare occasion, at home and without guests, he ate with his family, — his wife Athene. §239] A GENTLEMAN'S DAY 243 sitting at the foot of the couch where he reclined ; and soon afterward he went to bed. More commonly, he entertained guests — whom he had invited to dinner as he met them at the market place in the morning — or he was himself a guest elsewhere. The evening meal deserves a section to itself (§ 239). First let us note that such days as we have just described were not allowed to become monotonous at Athens. For several years of his life, the citizen was certain to be busied most of the time in the service of the state (§ 212). At other times, the meet- ings of the Assembly and the religious festivals and the theater took at least one day out of every three. 239. The evening banquet played a large part in Greek life. As guests arrived, they took their places in pairs, on couches, which were arranged around the room, each man reclining on his left arm. Slaves removed the sandals or shoes, wash- ing the dust from the feet, and passed bowls of water for the hands. They then brought in low three-legged tables, one before each couch, on which they afterward placed course after course of food. The Greeks of this period were not luxurious about eating. The meals were rather simple. Food was cut into small pieces in the kitchen. No forks or knives were used at table. Men ate with a spoon, or, more commonly, with the fingers ; and at the close, slaves once more passed bowls for washing the hands. When the eating was over, the real busi- ness of the evening began — with the wine. This was mixed with water; and drunkenness was not common ; but the drinking lasted late, with serious or playful talk, and singing and story- telling, and with forfeits for those who did not perform well any part assigned them by the "master of the feast" (one of their number chosen by the others when the wine appeared). Often the host had musicians come in, with jugglers and dancing girls. Eespectable women never appeared on these occasions. Only on marriage festivals, or some special family celebration, did the women of a family meet male guests at all. 244 THE AGE OF PERICLES [§240 240. Education. — Education at Athens, as in nearly all Greece, was in marked contrast with Spartan education (§ 130). It aimed to train harmonionsly the intellect, the sense of beauty, the moral nature, and the body. At the age of seven the boy School, Scenes. — A Bowl, Painting. lustruments of instruction, mostly musical, hang on the* walls. In the first half, one instructor is correcting the exercise of a boy who stands before him. Another is showing how to use the flute. The seated figures, with staffs, are "pedagogues." entered school, but he was constantly under the eye not only of the teacher, but of a trusted servant of his own family, called a pedagogue.^ The chief subjects for study were Homer 1 The word meant " boy-leader." Its use for a " teacher " is later. § 240] EDUCATION 245 and music. Homer, it has well been said, was to the Greek at once Bible, Shakespeare, and Robinson Crusoe. The boy learned to write on papyrus with ink. But papyrus was costly, and the elementary exercises were carried on with a sharp instrument on tablets coated with wax. No great pro- ficiency was expected from the average rich youth in writing — since he would have slaves do most of it for him in after life. The schoolmaster indulged in cruel floggings on slight occasion (Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 94). When the youth left school, he entered upon a wider train- ing, in the political debates of the Assembly, in the lecture halls of the Sophists, in the many festivals and religious processions, in the plays of the great dramatists at the theaters, and in the constant enjoyment of the noblest and purest works of art. Physical training began with the child and continued through old age. No Greek youth would pass a day without devoting some hours to developing his body and to overcoming any physical defect or awkwardness that he might have. All classes of citizens, except those bound by necessity to the work- shop, met for exercise. The result was a perfection of physical power and beauty never attained so universally by any other people. Imaginative Exercises. — This period affords excellent material for exercises based upon the training of the historic imagination. Let the student absorb all the information he can find upon some historical topic, until he is filled with its spirit, and then reproduce it from the inside, with the dramatic spirit — as though he lived in that time — not in the descrip- tive method of another age. The following topics are suggested (the list can be indefinitely extended, and such exercises may be arranged for any period) : — 1. A captive Persian's letter to a friend after Plataea. 2. A dialogue between Socrates and Xanthippe. 3. An address by a Messenian to his fellows in their revolt against Sparta. 4. Extracts from a diary of Pericles. 6. A day at the Olympic games (choose some particular date) . CHAPTER XV THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (431-404 B.C.) 241. Causes. — Athens and Sparta were at the opposite poles of Greek civilization. Athens stood for progress. Sparta was the champion of old ways. A like contrast ran through the two leagues of which these cities were the heads. The cities of the Athenian empire were Ionian in blood, democratic in politics, commercial in interests. Most of the cities of the Peloponnesian league were Dorian in blood and aristocratic in politics, and their citizens were landowners. This difference between the Athenian and Spartan states gave rise to mutual distrust. It was easy for any misunderstanding to ripen into war. Still, if none of the cities of the Peloponnesian league had had any interests on the sea, the two powers might each have gone its own way without crossing the other's path. But Corinth and Megara (members of Sparta's league) were trading cities, like Athens ; and, after the growth of the Athenian empire, they felt the basis of their prosperity slipping from under them. They had lost the trade of the Aegean, and Athens had gained it. And now Athens was reaching out also for the commerce of the western coasts of Greece. Next to Sparta, Corinth was the most powerful city in the Peloponnesian league ; and she finally persuaded Sparta to take up arms against Athens, before the Thirty Years' Truce (§ 202) had run quite half its length. 242. The immediate occasion for the struggle was found in some aid which Athens gave Corey ra against an attack by Corinth in 432 b.c. 246 §243] RESOURCES AND PLANS 247 Corcyra was the third naval power in Greece. Corinth was second only to Athens. Corinth and Corcyra had come to blows, and Corcyra asked to be taken into the Athenian league. Athens finally promised defensive aid, and sent ten ships with instructions to take no part in offensive operations. A great armament of 150 Corinthian vessels appeared off the southern coast of Corcyra. Corcyra could muster only 110 ships. In the battle that followed, the Corinthians were at first completely victorious. They sank or captured many ships, and seemed about to destroy the whole Corcyran fleet. Then the little Athenian squadron came to the rescue, and by their superior skill quickly restored the fortune of the day. But in the negotiations that followed, between Athens and the Peloponnesian league, this matter of Corcyra fell out of sight, and the quarrel was joined on broader issues.^ Sparta finally sent a haughty ultimatum, posing, herself, as the champion of a free Hellas against tyrant Athens, which had en- slaved the Aegean cities. " Let Athens set those cities free, and she might still have peace with Sparta." A timid party, of Athenian aristocrats, wished peace even on these terms. But the Assembly adopted a dignified resolution moved by Pericles : — "Let us send the ambassadors away," said he, "with this answer : That we will grant independence to the cities ... as soon as the Spartans allow their subject states [Messenia and the subject towns of Laconia] to be governed as they choose, and not by the will and interest of Sparta. Also, that we are wilUng to offer arbitration, according to the treaty [the treaty of the Thirty Years' Truce]. And that we do not want to begin the war, but shall know how to defend ourselves if we are attacked." As Pericles frankly w^arned the Assembly, this reply meant conflict. And so in 431 began the "Peloponnesian War." 243. Resources and Plans. — The Peloponnesian league could muster a hundred thousand hoplites, against whom in that day no army in the world could stand ; but it could not keep many men in the field longer than a few weeks. Sparta could 1 Special report : the narrative of the deliberations at Sparta regarding war or peace (note especially Thucydides' account of the Corinthian speech re- garding Sparta and Athens iu Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 77). 248 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§244 not capture Athens, therefore, and must depend upon ravaging Attic territory and inducing Athenian allies to revolt. Athens had only some twenty-six thousand hoplites at her command, and half of these were needed for distant garrison duty. But she had a navy even more unmatched on the sea than the Peloponnesian army was on land. Her walls were impreg- nable. The islands of Euboea and Salamis, and the open spaces within the Long Walls, she thought, could receive her country people with their flocks and herds. Tile corn trade of south Russia was securely in her hands. The grain ships could enter the Piraeus as usual, however the Spartans might hold the open country of Attica. Athens could easily afford to support her population for a time from her annual revenues, to say nothing of the immense surplus of 6000 talents ($6,000,000) in the treasury. When war began, the Spartans marched each year into Attica with overwhelming force, and remained there for some weeks, laying waste the crops, burning the villages, and cut- ting down the olive groves, up to the very walls of Athens. At lirst, with frenzied rage, the Athenians clamored to march out against the invader; but Pericles strained his great au- thority to prevent such a disaster, and finally he convinced the people that they must bear this insult and injury with patience. Meantime, an Athenian fleet was always sent to ravage the coasts and harbors of Peloponnesus and to conquer various exposed allies of Sparta. Each party could inflict considerable damage, hut neither could get at the other to strike a vital blow. The war promised to be a matter of endurance. Here Athens seemed to have an advantage, since she had the stronger motive for holding out. She was fighting to preserve her empire, and could not give up without ruin. Sparta could cease fighting without loss to herself ; and Pericles hoped to tire her out. 244. The Plague in Athens. — The plan of Pericles might have been successful, had the Spartans not been encouraged by a tragic disaster which fell upon Athens and which no one §244] THE PLAGUE IN ATHENS 249 in that day could have foreseen. A terrible plague had been ravaging western Asia, and in the second year of the war it reached the Aegean. In most parts of Hellas it did no great harm ; but in Athens it was peculiarly deadly. The people of all Attica, crowded into the one city, were living under unusual and unwholesome conditions ; and the pestilence returned each summer for several years. It slew more than a fourth of the population, and paralyzed industry and all ordinary activ- ities. Worse still, it shattered, for years, the proud and joy- ous self-trust which had come to the Athenian people after Marathon. Thucydides, an eye witness, has described the ravages of the plague and explained their cause. " When the country people of Attica arrived in Athens," he says, " a few had homes of their own, or found friends to take them in. But far the greater number had to find a place to live on some vacant spot or in the temples of the gods and chapels of the heroes. . . . Many also camped down in the towers of the walls or wherever else they could ; for the city proved too small to hold them." Thucydides could see the unhappy results of these conditions, after the plague had fallen on the city ; and he adds, with grim irony, that " while these country folk were dividing the spaces between the Long Walls and settling there," the govern- ment (Generals and Council) were " paying great attention to mustering a fleet for ravaging the Peloponnesian coasts." Then, in dealing with the horrible story of the plague, Thucydides shows how these conditions prepared for it. " The new arrivals from the country were the greatest sufferers, — lodged during this hot season in stifling huts, where death raged without check. The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and half-dead creatures reeled about the streets, poi- soning all the fountains and wells with their bodies, in their longing for water. The sacred places in which they had camped were full of corpses [a terrible sacrilege, to Greeks] ; for men, not knoiving ivhat was to become of them, became wholly cai^eless of everything." 250 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§245 245. Twenty-seven Years of War. — Still, the Athenians did recover their buoyant hope ; and the war dragged along with varying success for twenty-seven years, with one short and ill-kept truce, — a whole generation growing up from the cradle to manhood in incessant war. A story of the long strug- gle in detail would take a volume. Tlie contest tvas not of such lasting importance as the preceding struggle between the Greek and Persian civilizations ; and only a few incidents require mention. 246. Athenian Naval Supremacy. — On the sea the superiority of Athens consisted not merely in the size of her navy, hut even more in its skill. The other Greeks still fought, as at the time of Sal amis, by dashing their ships against each other, beak against beak, and then, if neither was sunk, by grappling the vessels together, and fighting as if on land. The Athenians, however, had now learned to maneuver their ships, rowing swiftly about the enemy with many feints, and seizing the opportunity to sink a ship by a sudden blow at an exposed point. Their improved tactics revolutionized naval warfare ; and for years small fleets of Athenian ships proved equal to three times their number of the enemy.^ Gradually, however, the Peloponnesians learned something of the Athenian tactics, and this difference became less marked. 247. New Leaders. — The deadliest blow of the plague was the striking down of Pericles, who died of the disease, in the third year of the war. Never had the Athenians so needed his controlling will and calm judgment. He was fol- lowed by a new class of leaders, — men of the people, like Cleon the tanner, and Hyperholus the lampmaker, — men of strong will and much force, but rude, untrained, unscrupulous, and ready to surrender their own convictions, if necessary, to win the favor of the crowd. Such men were to lead Athens into many blunders and crimes. Over against them stood only a group of incapable aristocrats, led by Nicias, a good but stupid man, and Alcibiades, a brilliant, unprincipled adventurer. 1 Special report to illustrate these points : the story of Phormio's victories in the Corinthian Gulf in 431, §249] ATHENIAN DISASTER 251 Athens was peculiarly unfortunate in her statesmen at this period. She produced no Themistocles, or Aristides, or Cimon, or Pericles; and Phormio and Demosthenes, her great admirals, were usually absent from the city. Sparta, on the other hand, produced two greater generals than ever before in her history: Brasidas, whose brilliant campaigns overthrew Athenian supremacy on the coast of Thrace ; and Lysander, who was finally to bring the war to a close. 248. Athenian Disaster in Sicily. — The turning-point in the war was an unwise and misconducted Athenian expedition against Syracuse.^ Two hundred perfectly equipped ships and over forty thousand men — among them eleven thousand of the flower of the Athenian hoplites — were pitifully sacrificed by the superstition and miserable generalship of their leader, Nicias (413 b.c). Even after this crushing disaster Athens refused peace that should take away her empire. Every nerve was strained^ and the last resources and reserve funds exhausted, to build and man new fleets. The war lasted nine years more, and part of the time Athens seemed as supreme in the Aegean as ever. Two things are notable in the closing chapters of the struggle, — the attempt to overthrow democracy in Athens, and Sj)arta's betrayal of the Asiatic Greeks to Persia (§§ 249, 250). 249. The Rule of the Four Hundred. —For a century, the oli- garchic party had hardly raised its head in Athens ; but in 411, it attempted once more to seize the government. Wealthy men of moderate opinions were wearied by the heavy taxation of the war. The democracy had blundered sadly and had shown itself unfit to deal with foreign relations, where secrecy and dispatch were essential ; and its new leaders were particularly offensive to the old Athenian families. Under these conditions, the officers of the fleet conspired with secret oligarchic societies at home. Leading democrats were assassinated ; and the Assembly was terrorized into sur- 1 Syracuse, a Dorian city and a warm friend to Sparta, had been encroach- iug upon Ionian allies of Athens in Sicily. 252 THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR [§250 rendering its powers to a council of Four Hundred of the oli- garchs. But this body proved generally incompetent, except in murder and plunder, and it permitted needless disasters in the war. After a few months, the Athenian fleet at Samos de- posed its oligarchic officers ; and the democracy at home expelled the Four Hundred and restored the old government. Route of the Long Walls, looking southwest to the harhoi*, some three and one half miles distant. From a recent photograph. 250. Sparta betrays the Asiatic Greeks. — In 412, immediately after the destruction of the Athenian army and fleet in Sicily, Persian satraps appeared again upon the Aegean coast. S^^arta at once bought the aid of their gold by }yromising to betray the freedom of the Asiatic Greeks, — to whom the Athenian name had been a shield for seventy years. Persian funds now built fleet after fleet for Sparta, and slowly Athens was exhausted, despite some brilliant victories. 251. Fall of Athens. — In 405, the last Athenian fleet was surprised and captured at Aegospotami (Goat Eivers). Appar- ently the officers had been plotting again for an oligarchic revolu- tion; and the sailors had been discouraged and demoralized, even if they were not actually betrayed by their commanders. § 251] FALL OF ATHENS 253 Lysander, the Spartan commander, in cold blood put to death the four thousand Athenian citizens among the captives.^ This slaughter marks the end. Athens still held out despair- ing but stubborn, until starved into sulomission by a terrible siege. In 404, the proud city surrendered to the mercy of its foes. Corinth and Thebes wished to raze it from the earth ; but Sparta had no mind to do away with so useful a check upon those cities. She compelled Athens to renounce all claims to empire, to give up all alliances, to surrender all her ships but twelve, and to promise to ''follow Sparta" in peace and war. The Long Walls and the defenses of the Piraeus were demol- ished, to the music of Peloponnesian flutes; and Hellas w^as declared free ! Events ^vere at once to show this promise a cruel mockery. The one power that could have groiim into a free and uriited Greece had been rumed, and it remained to see to what foreign master Greece should fall. For Further Reading. — Specially suggested: Davis' Eeadings, Vol. I, Nos. 81-86 (16 pages), gives tlie most strilcing episodes of the war, as they were told by the Athenian historians of the day, Thucydides and Xenophon. Plutarch's Lives (" Alcibiades," "Nicias,'' and "Ly- sander") is the next most valuable authority. The following modern authorities continue to be useful (and may be consulted for special reports upon the period, if any are assigned) : Bury, chs. X, xi ; the closing parts of Grant's Age of Pericles and of Abbott's Pericles; and Cox's Athenian Empire. Bury gives 120 pages to the struggle, — too long an account for reading, but useful for special topics. 1 Special reports: (1) Cleon's leadership. (2) The trial of the Athenian generals after the victory of Arginusae. (3) The massacre of the Mytilenean oligarchs (story of the decree and the reprieve). (4) Massacre of the Melians by Athens, 415 B.C. (5) Note the merciless nature of the struggle, as shown by other massacres of prisoners: i.e., Thebans by Plataeans, 431 b.c. ; Pla- taeans by Thebans, 427 b.c. ; thousands of Athenians in the mines of Syracuse ; the four thousand Athenians after Aegospotami. (6) The career of Alcibi- ades. (7) The Thracian campaigns. (8) The Sicilian expedition. (9) The Siege of Plataea. Material for such reports will be easily found in the books named at the end of this chapter. CHAPTER XVI FROM THE FALL OF ATHENS TO THE FALL OF HELLAS (404-338 B.C.) 252. Decline of Hellas. — The Athenian empire had lasted seventy glorious years. Nearly an equal time was yet to elapse before Hellas fell under Macedonian sway; but it need not detain us long. Persia had already begun again to enslave the Greeks of Asia ; Carthage again did the like in Sicily ; and in the European peninsula the period was one of shame or of profitless wars. It falls into three parts : thirty-three years of Spartan supremacy; nine years of Theban supremacy; and some twenty years of anarchy. SPARTAN SUPREMACY, 404-371 p..c. 253. " Decarchies." — After Aegospotami, Sparta was mis- tress of Greece more completely than Athens had ever been, but for only half as long ; and most of that time was given to wars to maintain her authority. She had promised to set Hellas free ; but the cities of the old Athenian empire found that they had exchanged a mild, wise rule for a coarse and stupid despotism.^ Their old tribute teas doubled; their self-gov- ernment was taken away ; bloodshed and co7ifusion ran riot in their streets. Everywhere Sparta overthrew the old democracies, and set up oligarchic governments. Usually the management of a city was given to a board of ten men, called a decarchy ("rule of ten "). These oligarchies, of course, were dependent upon Sparta. 2 To defend them against any democratic rising, there 1 Cox, Athenian Empire, 229-231, gives an admirable contrast between the Athenian and the Spartan systems. 2 Note the likeness between this Spartan method and the Persian practice of setting up tyrannies, dependent upon Persia, in the Ionian cities (§ 164). 254 §255] SPARTAN TYRANNY OVER GREECE 255 was placed in many cities a Spartan garrison, with a Spartan military governor called a harmost. The garrisons plundered at will ; the harmosts grew rich from extortion and bribes ; the decarchies were slavishly subservient to their masters, while they wreaked upon their fellow-citizens a long pent-up aristo- cratic vengeance, in confiscation, outrage, expulsion, assassina- tion, and massacre. 254. Spartan Decay. — In Sparta itself luxury and corruption replaced the old simplicity. As a result, the number of citi- zens was rapidly growing smaller. Property was gathered into the hands of a few, while many Spartans grew too poor to support themselves at the public mess (§ 130). These poorer men ceased to be looked upon as citizens. They were not per- mitted to vote in the Assembly, and were known as " In- feriors." The 10,000 citizens, of the Persian War period, shrank to 2000. The discontent of the "Inferiors" added to the standing danger from the Helots. A plot was formed between these classes to change the government ; and only an accident pre- vented an armed revolution.^ Thus, even at home, the Spartan rule during this period rested on a volcano. 255. The "Thirty Tyrants" at Athens. — For a time even Athens remained a victim to Spartan tyranny, like any petty Ionian city. After the surrender, in 404, Lysander appointed a committee of thirty from the oligarchic clubs of Athens " to reestablish the constitution of the fathers." Meantime, they were to hold absolute power. This committee was expected to undo the reforms of Pericles and Clisthenes and even of Solon, and to restore the ancient oligarchy. As a matter of fact they did worse than that : they published no constitution at all, but instead they filled all ofiices with their own followers and plotted to make their rule permanent. These men were known as " the Thirty Tyrants." They called in a Spartan harmost and garrison, to whom they gave the fortress of the Acropolis. They disarmed the citizens, ex- 1 Special report : the conspiracy of Cinadon at Sparta. 256 SPARTAN SUPREMACY [§256 cept some three thousand of their own adherents: Then they began a bloody and greedy rule. Rich democrats and alien merchants were put to death or driven into exile, in order that their property might be confiscated.^ The victims of this pro- scription were counted by hundreds, perhaps by thousands. Larger numbers fled, and, despite the orders of Sparta, they were sheltered by Thebes. That city had felt aggrieved that her services in the Peloponnesian War received no reward from Sparta, and now she would have been glad to see Athens more powerful again. 256. Athens again Free. — This reign of terror at Athens lasted over a year. Then, in 403, one of the democratic exiles, Thrasybidus, with a band of companions from Thebes, seized the Piraeus. The aliens of the harbor rose to his supi)ort. The Spartan garrison and the forces of the Thirty were defeated. A quarrel between Lysander and the Spartan king prevented serious Spartan interference, and the old Athenian democracy recovered the government. The aliens and sailors of the Piraeus had fought valiantly with the democrats against the Thirty. Thrasybulus now urged that they be made full citizens. That just measure would have made up partly for Athens' terrible losses in thePelopon- nesian War. Unfortunately, it was not adopted ; but in other respects, the restored democracy showed itself generous as well as moderate. A few of the most guilty of the Thirty were punished, but for all others a general amnesty was declared. The good faith and moderation of the democracy contrasted so favorably with the cut-throat rule of the two recent experi- ments at oligarchy, that Athens was undisturbed in future by revolution. Other parts of Greece, however, were less fortu- nate, and democracy never again became so generally established in Hellenic cities as it had been in the age of Pericles. 257. " March of the Ten Thousand." — Meantime, important events were taking place in the East. In 401, the weakness of '' Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 100, gives a famous instance. §259] LEAGUE AGAINST SPARTA 257 the Persian empire was strikingly shown. Cyrus the Younger, brother of the king Artaxerxes, endeavored to seize the Persian throne. While a satrap:) in Asia Minor, Cyrus had furnished Sparta the money to keep her fleet together before the battle of Goat Rivers ; and now, through Sparta's favor, he was able to enlist ten thousand Greeks in his army. Cyrus penetrated to the heart of the Persian empire : but in the battle of Cunaxa, near Babylon, he was killed, and his Asiatic troops routed. The Ten Thousand Greeks, however, proved unconquerable by the Persian host of half a million. By treachery the leaders were entrapped and murdered ; but under the inspiration of Xenophon ^ the Athenian, the Ten Thousand chose new generals and made a remarkable retreat to the Greek districts on the Black Sea. 258. Renewal of the Persian Wars. — Until this time the Greeks had waged their contests with Persia only along the coasts of Asia. After the Ten Thousand had marched, almost at will, through so many hostile nations, the Greeks began to dream of conquering the Asiatic continent. Seventy years later, Alexander the Great was to make this dream a fact. First, however, the attempt was made by Agesilaus, king of Sparta. Sparta had brought down upon herself the wrath of Persia, anyway, by favoring Cyrus ; and Agesilaus burned with a noble ambition to free the Asiatic Greeks, who, a little before (§ 250), had been abandoned to Persia by his country. Thus war began between Sparta and Persia. In 396, Agesilaus invaded Asia Minor with a large army, but was checked, in full career of conquest, by events at home (§ 259). 259. A Greek League against Sparta, 395 B.C. — No sooner was Sparta engaged with Persia than enemies rose up in Greece it- self. Thebes, Corinth, Athens, and Argos formed an alliance against her, and the empire she had gained at Goat Rivers was shattered by Conon. Conon was the ablest of the Athenian generals in the latter period of the Peloponnesian War. At iCf. § 224 and § 41. Xenophon's Anabasis is our authority for these events. 258 SPARTAN SUPREMACY 260 Goat Rivers lie was the only one who had kept his squadron in order ; and after all was lost, he had escaped to Rhodes and entered Persian service. l^ow, in 394, in command of a Persian fleet (mainly made up of Phoeni- cian ships) he com- pletely destroyed the Spartan naval power at the battle of Cni- dus. Spartan authority in the Aegean van- ished. Conon sailed from island to island, expelling the Spartan garrisons, and restor- ing democracies ; and in the next year he anchored in the Pi- raeus and rebuilt the Long Walls. Athens again became one of the great powers ; and Sparta fell back into her old position as mere head of the in- land Peloponnesian league. 260. Peace of Antalcidas, 387 B.C. — After a few more years of indecisive war, Sparta sought peace with Persia. In 387, the two powers invited all the Greek states to send deputies to Sardis, where the Persian king dictated the terms. The document read : — " King Artaxerxes deems it just that the cities in Asia, loith the islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus, should belong to himself. The rest of the Hel- lenic cities, both great and small, he will leave independent, save Lemnos, The Hermes of Praxiteles. The arms and legs of the statue are sadly muti- lated, but the head is one of the most famous remains of Greek art. Cf . § 220, note. § 262] THEBES — LEUCTRA 259 Imbros, and Scyros, which three are to belong to Athens as of yore. Should any of the parties not accept this peace, I, Artaxerxes, together with those who share my views [the Spartans], will war against the offenders by land and sea," — Xenephon, Hcllenica, v, 1. Sparta held that these terms dissolved all the other leagues (like the Boeotian, of which Thebes was the head), but that they did not aifect her own control over her subject towns in Laconia, nor weaken the Peloponnesian confederacy. Thus Persia and Sjxirta again conspired to betray Hellas. Persia helped Sparta to keep the European Greek states divided and weak, as they were before the Persian War ; and Sparta helped Persia to recover her old authority over the Asiatic Greeks. By this iniquity the tottering Spartan supremacy was bolstered up a few years longer. Of course the shame of betraying the Asiatic Greeks must be shared by the enemies of Sparta, who had used Persian aid against her ; hut the policy had been first introduced by Sparta in seeking Persian assistance in 412 against Athens (§ 250) ; and so far no other Greek state had offered to surrender Hellenic cities to barbarians as the price of such aid. 261. Spartan Aggressions. — Sparta had saved her power by infamy. She used it, with the same brutal cunning as in the past, to keep down the beginnings of greatness elsewhere in Greece. Thus, Arcadia had shown signs of growing strength ; but Sparta now broke up the leading city, Mantinea, and dispersed the inhabitants in villages. In Chalcidice, the city of Olynthus had organized its neighbors into a promising league. A Spartan army compelled this league to break up. While on the way to Chalcidice, part of this army, by treachery, in time of peace, seized the citadel of Thebes. And, when the Athenian naval power began to revive, a like treacherous, though unsuccessful, attempt was made upon the Piraeus. 262. Thebes a Democracy. — These high-handed outrages were to react upon the offender. First there came a revolution at Thebes. The Spartan garrison there had set up an oligarchic Theban government which had driven crowds of citizens into 260 SPARTAN SUPREMACY [§263 PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF LEl/TRA 371 B.C. exile. Athens received them, just as Thebes had sheltered Athenian fugitives in the time of the Thirty Tyrants ; and from Athens Pelojndas, a leader of the exiles, struck the return blow.^ In 379, Thebes was surprised and seized by the exiles, and the government passed into the hands of the democrats. Then Thebes and Athens joined in a new war upon Sparta. 263. Leuctra ; the Overthrow of Sparta. — The war dragged along for some years ; and in 371 e.g., the contending parties, wearied with fruitless strife, concluded peace. But when the treaty was being signed, Epaminon- das, the Theban repre- sentative, demanded the right to sign for all Boeo- tia, as Sparta had signed for all Laconia. Athens would not support Thebes in this position. So Thebes was excluded from the peace; and Sparta turned to crush her. A powerful army at once invaded Boeotia, — and met with an overwhelming defeat by a smaller Tlieban force at Leuctra. This amazing result was due to the military genius of Epam- inondas. Hitherto the Greeks had fought in long lines, from eight to twelve men deep. Epaminondas adopted a new arrangement that marks a step in warfare. He massed his best troops in a solid column, fifty men deep, on the left, oppo- site the Spartan wing in the Peloponnesian army. His other troops were spread out as thin as possible. The solid phalanx 1 The story is full of adventure. Pelopidas and a number of other daria^ young men among the exiles returned secretly to Thebes, and, through the aid of friends there, were admitted (disguised as dancing girls) to a banquet where the Theban oligarchs were already deep in wine. They killed the drunken traitors with their daggers. Then, running through the streets, they called the people to expel the Spartans from the citadel. § 265] EPAMINONDAS 261 was set in motion first ; then the thinner center and right wing advanced more slowly, so as to engage the attention of the enemy opposite, but not to come into action until the battle should have been won by the massed column. In short, Epaminondas massed his force against one part of the enemy. The weight of the Tlieban charge crushed through the Spartan line, and trampled it under. Four hundred of the seven hundred Spartans, with their king and with a thousand other Peloponnesian hoplites, went down in ten minutes. The mere loss of men was fatal enough, now that Spartan citizenship was so reduced (the number of full citizens after this battle did not exceed fifteen hundred) ; but the effect upon the military prestige of Sparta was even more deadly. At one stroke Sparta sank into a second-rate power. None the less, Spartan character never showed to better advantage. Sparta was always greater in defeat than in victory, and she met her fate with heroic composure. The news of the overthrow did not interfere with a festival that was going on, and only the relatives of the survivors of the battle appeared in mourning. THEBAN SUPREMACY 264. Epaminondas. — For nine years after Leuctra, Thebes was the head of Greece. This position she owed to her great leader, Epaminondas, whose life marks one of the fair heights to which human nature can ascend. Epaminondas was great as general, statesman, and philosopher; but he was greatest as a man, lofty and lovable in nature. In his earlier days he had been looked upon as a dreamer; and when the oligarchs of Thebes drove out Pelopidas and other active patriots (§ 262), they only sneered while Epaminondas continued calmly to talk of liberty to the young. Later, it was recognized that, more than any other man, he had prepared the way for the over- throw of tyranny ; and after the expulsion of the oligarchs he became the organizer of the democracy. 265. Sparta surrounded by Hostile Cities. — Epaminondas sought to do for Thebes what Pericles had done for Athens. 262 THEBAN SUPREMACY [§266 While he lived, success seemed possible. Unhappily, the few- years remaining of his life he was compelled to give mainly to war. Laconia was repeatedly invaded. During these cam- paigns E})aminondas freed Messenia,^ on one side of Sparta, and organized Arcadia, on the other side, into a federal union, — so as to "surround Sparta with a perpetual blockade." The great Theban aided the Messenians to found a new cap- ital, Messene ; and in Arcadia he restored Mantinea, which Sparta had destroyed (§ U61). In this district he also founded Megalopolis, or " the Great City," by combining forty scattered villages. 266. Athens (jealous of Thebes) saved Sparta from complete destruction, but drew Theban vengeance u]K)n herself. Epam- inondas built fleets, swept the Athenian navy from the seas, and made Euboea a Theban possession. Thessaly and Macedonia, too, were brought under Theban influence; and the young Philip, prince of Macedon, spent some years in Thebes as a hostage. 267. Mantinea. — The leadership of Thebes, however, rested solely on the supreme genius of her one great statesman, and it vanished at his death. In 362, for the fourth time, Epami- nondas marched against Sparta, and at Mantinea won another great victory. The Spartans had been unable to learn ; and went down again before the same tactics that had crushed them nine years earlier at Leuctra. Mantinea was the greatest land battle ever fought between Hellenes, and nearly all the states of Greece took part on one side or the other. But the victory bore no fruit ; for Epaminondas himself fell on the field, and his city sank at once to a slow and narrow policy. No state was left in Greece to assume leadership. A turbu- lent anarchy, in place of the stern Spartan rule, seemed the only fruit of the brief glory of the great Theban. 268. Failure of the City-state. — The failure of the Greek cities to unite in larger states made it certain that sooner or later they must fall 1 Messenia had beeu a mere district of Laconia for nearly two centuries and a lialf. Its loss took from Sparta more than a third of her whole territory. §270] MACEDON AND PHILIP II 263 to some outside power. Sparta and Thebes (with Persian aid) had been able to prevent Athenian leadership; Thebes and Athens had overthrown Sparta ; Sparta and Athens had been able to check Thebes. Twenty years of anarchy followed ; and then Greece fell to a foreign master. On the north there had been growing up a nation-state; and the city-state could not stand before that stronger organization. For Further Reading. — Specially suggested : Davis' Headings, Vol. I, Nos. 100 ("Thirty Tyrants"), 101 (Epaminondas), and 102 (Leuctra). Plutarch's Lives (" Agesilaus " and " Pelopidas "). Additional : Bury, 514-628. THE MACEDONIAN CONQUEST 269. Macedon. — The Macedonians were part of the " outer rim of the Greek race." They were still barbaric, and perhaps were mixed somewhat with non-Hellenic elements. Shortly before this time, they were only a loose union of tribes; but Philip II (§ 270) had now consolidated them into a real nation. The change was so recent that Alexander the Great, a little later, could say to his army : — " My father, Philip, found you a roving, destitute people, without fixed homes and without resources, most of you clad in the skins of animals, pasturing a few sheep among the mountains, and, to defend these, waging a luckless warfare with the Illyrians, the Triballans, and the Thracians on your borders. He gave you the soldier's cloak to replace the skins, and led you down from the mountains into the plain, making you a worthy match in war against the barbarians on your frontier, so that you no longer trusted to your strongholds, so much as to your own valor, for safety. He made you to dwell in cities and provided you with wholesome laws and institutions. Over those same barbarians, who before had plundered you and carried off as booty both yourselves and your substance, he made you masters and lords." ^ 270. Philip II of Macedon is one of most remarkable men in history. 2 He was ambitious, crafty, sagacious, persistent, un- scrupulous, an unfailing judge of character, and a marvelous organizer. He set himself to make his people true Greeks by 1 See the rest of this passage in Davis' Readings, Vol. I, No. 107. 2 Wheeler's characterization, Alexander the Great, 5-7, is admirable. 264 MACEDONIAN CONQUEST 271 making them the leaders of Greece. He was determined to secure that headship) for which Athens, Sparta, and Thebes had striven in vain. 271. Philip's Methods. — At Philip's accession Macedon was still a poor country without a good harbor. The first need was an outlet on the sea. Philip found one by con- quering the Chalcidic pen- insula. Then his energy developed the gold mines of the district until they furnished him a yearly revenue of a thousand tal- ents — as large as that of Athens at her greatest power. Next Philip turned to Greece itself. Here he used an adroit mingling of cunning, bribery, and force. In all Greek states, among the pretended patriot statesmen, there were secret servants in his pay. He set city against city ; and the constant tendency to quarrels among the Greeks played into his hands. 272. Demosthenes. — The only man who saw clearly the designs of Philip, and constantly opposed them, was Demos- thenes the Athenian. Demosthenes was the greatest orator of Greece. To check Macedonia became the one aim of his life ; and the last glow of Greek independence flames up in his passionate a])peals to Athens that • she defend Hellas against Macedon as she had once done against Persia. " Suppose that you have one of the gods as surety that Philip will leave you untouched, in tlie name of all the gods, it is a shame for you in ignorant stupidity to sacrifice the rest of Hellas ! " The noble orations (the Philippics) by which Demosthenes sought to move the Athenian assembly to action against Philip Philip II. From a gold medalhon by Alexander. §273] THE MACEDONIAN ARMY 265 are still unrivaled in literature/ but they had no permanent practical effect. 273. The Macedonian Army. — The most important work of Philip was his army. This was as superior to the four-months SCALE OF MILES iKv^-; M Macedonia at the he^inning ^ h^^'^TCJ of Philip's Reign. V///////A Tenitorj added bj Philip Y////////A ^ before Chaeronea. ES ENG.CO., N.Y. citizen armies of Hellas as Philip's steady and secret diplomacy was superior to the changing councils of a popular assembly. The king's wealth enabled him to keep a disciplined force ready for action. He had become familiar with the Theban phalanx during his stay at Thebes as a boy (§ 266). Now he 1 Cf. § 223, Special report : Demosthenes. 266 MACEDONIAN CONQUEST [§274 enlarged and improved it, so that the ranks presented five rows of bristling spears projecting beyond the front soldier. The flanks were protected by light-armed troops, and the Macedonian nobles furnished the finest of cavalry. At the same time a field " artillery '' first appears, made up of curious engines able to throw darts and great stones three hundred yards. Such a mixture of troops, and on a permanent footing, was altogether novel. Philip created the instrument with which his son was to conquer the world. 274. Chaeronea and the Congress of Corinth. — In 338 b.c. Philip threw off the mask and invaded Greece. Athens and Thebes combined against him, — to be hopelessly crushed at the battle of Chaeronea. Then a congress of Greek states at Corinth recognized Macedonia as the head of Greece. It was agreed that the separate states should keep their local self- government, but that foreign matters, including war and peace, should be committed to Philip. Philip was also declared gen- eral ill chief of the armies of Greece for a war against Persia. 275. The History of Hellas Ended. — Thus Philip posed, wisely, not as the conqueror, but as the champion of Greece against the foe of all Hellenes, He showed a patient mag- nanimity, too, toward fickle Greek states, and in particular he strove to reconcile Athens. He was wise enough to see that he needed, not reluctant subjects, but willing followers. Greek independence was at an end. Greece thereafter, until a hundred years ago, was only a province of this or that foreign power. The history of Hellenic culture, however, was not closed. The Macedonian conquest was to spread that civilization over the vast East. The history of Hellas merges in the history of a ivider HeUenistic world. For Further Keading. — Specially suggested : Davis' Headings, Vol, I, Nos. 103-107. Bury, ch. xvi ; or (better if accessible) Wheeler's Alexander the Great, 14-18 and 64-80. Exercise. — Review the period from Aegospotami to Chaeronea by "catch-words" (see Exercise on page 190). PART III THE GKAEOO-OKIENTAL WORLD With Alexander the stage of Greek influence spreads across the world, and Greece becomes only a small item in the heritage of the Greeks. — Mahaffy. Tlie seed-ground of European civilization is neither Greece nor the Orient, but a world joined of the two. — Benjamin Ide Wheeler. CHAPTER XVII THE MINGLING OF EAST AND WEST 276. Alexander the Great. — Philip of Maceclon was assassi- nated in 336, two years aMr Chaeronea. He was just ready to begin the invasion of Asia ; and his work was taken np by his son Alexander. Father and son were both among the greatest men in his- tory, but they were very unlike. In many ways Alexander resembled his mother, Olympias, a semi-barbaric princess from Epirus, — a woman of intense passions and generous enthusi- asms. Says Benjamin Ide Wheeler : — " While it was from his father that Alexander inherited his sagacious insight into men and things, and his brilliant capacity for timely and determined action, it was to his mother that he undoubtedly owed that passionate warmth of nature which betrayed itself not only in the furious outbursts of temper occasionally characteristic of him, but quite as much in a romantic fervor of attachment and love for friends, a delicate tender- ness of sympathy for the weak, and a princely largeness and generosity of soul toward all, that made him so deeply beloved of men and so enthusiastically followed." — Alexander the Great, 5. 267 268 GREEK CONQUESTS IN THE ORIENT 277 As a boy, Alexander had been fearless, self-willed, and rest- less, with fervent affections.^ These traits marked his whole career. He was devoted to Homer, and he knew the Iliad by heart. Homer's Achilles he claimed for an ancestor and took for his ideal. His later education was directed by Aristotle (§ 315), and from this great teacher he learned to admire Greek art and science and to come closely into sympathy with the best Greek culture. 277. Restoration of Order. — At his father's death Alexander was a strii)ling of twenty years. He was to prove a rare mili- ?!'%; Alexander, Alexander in a Lion-hunt. Two sides of a gold medallion of Tarsus. tary genius. He never lost a battle and never refused an engagement ; and, on occasion, he could be shrewd and adroit in diplomacy ; but at this time he was known only as a rash boy. No one thought that he could hold together the empire that had been built up by the force and cunning of the great Philip. Revolt broke out everywhere ; but the young king showed himself at once both statesman and general. With marvelous rapidity he struck crushing blows on this side and on that. A hurried expedition restored order in Greece ; the savage tribes of the north were quieted by a rapid march beyond the Danube; 1 Special report : anecdotes from Plutarch regarding Alexander's boyhood. §278] ALEXANDER THE GREAT 269 then, turning on rebellious Illyria, Alexander forced the mountain passes and overran the country. Meanwhile it was reported in the south that Alexander was killed or defeated among the barbarians. Insurrection again blazed forth ; but with forced marches he suddenly appeared a second time in Greece, falling with swift and terrible vengeance upon Thebes, the center of the revolt. The city was taken by storm and leveled to the ground, except the house of Pindar (§ 155), while the thirty thousand survivors of the popula- tion were sold as slaves. The other states were ter- rified into abject submis- sion, and were treated generously. Then, with his authority firmly re- established, Alexander turned, as the champion of Hellas, to 'attack Persia. 278. The Persian Cam- paigns. — In the spring of 334 B.C. Alexander crossed the Hellespont with thirty -five thousand disciplined troops. The army was quite enough to scatter any Oriental force, and as large as any general could then handle in long and rapid marches in a hostile country ; but its size contrasts strangely with that of the huge horde Xerxes had led against Greece a century and a half before. The route of march and the immense distances traversed can be best traced by the map. The conquest of the main empire occupied five years, and the story falls into three distinct chapters, each marked by a world-famous battle. The Alexander. Copenhagen " head. Prohahly by a pupil of the sculptor Skopas. 270 GREEK CONQUESTS IN THE ORIENT [§ 278 a. Asia Minor: Battle of the Granicus. — The Persian satraps of Asia Minor met the invaders at the GranicQS, a small stream in ancient Troyland. With the personal rash- ness that was the one blot upon his military skill, Alexander himself led the Macedonian charge through the river and up the steep bank into the midst of the Persian cavalry, where he barely escaped death. The Persian nobles fought, as always, with gallant self-devotion, but in the end they were utterly routed. Then a body of Greek mercenaries in Persian pay was surrounded and cut down to a man. No quarter was to be given Hellenes fighting as traitors to the cause of Hellas. The victory cost Alexander only 120 men, and it made him master of all Asia Minor. During the next few months he set up democracies in the Greek cities, and organized the govern- ment of the various provinces. b. The Mediterranean Coast : Battle of Issus. — To strike at the heart of the empire at once would have been to leave be- hind him a large Persian fleet, to encourage revolt in Greece. Alexander wisely determined to secure the entire coast, and so protect his rear, before marching into the interior. Ac- cordingly he turned south, just after crossing the mountains that separate Asia Minor from Syria, to reduce Phoenicia and Egypt. Meantime the Persians had gathered a great army; but at Issus Alexander easily overthrew their host of six hun- dred thousand men led by King Darius in person. Darius allowed himself to be caught in a narrow defile between the mountains and the sea. The cramped space made the vast numbers of the Persians an embarrassment to themselves. They soon became a huddled mob of fugitives, and the Mace- donians wearied themselves with slaughter. Alexander 7ioiv assunied the title, King of Persia. The siege of Tyre (§ 57) detained him a year ; but Egypt welcomed him as a deliverer, and by the close of 332, all the sea poiver of the Eastern Mediterranean ivas his} While in Egypt he showed his 1 Carthage dominated the western waters of the Mediterranean ~ beyond Italy ; but she had nothing to do with naval rivalries farther east. §279] PERSIAN CAMPAIGNS 271 constructive genius by founding Alexandria, a city destined for many centuries to be a commercial and intellectual center for the world. c. The Tigris-Euphrates District : Battle of Arbela. — Darius now proposed that he and Alexander should divide the empire between them. Kejecting this offer contemptuously, Alexander took up his march for the interior. While following the ancient route from Egypt to Assyria (§ 6) he visited Jerusalem, was received with great honor by the high priest and granted the Jews considerable privileges. He met Darius near Arbela, not far from ancient Nineveh. Alexander purposely allowed him choice of time and place, and by a third decisive victory proved the hopelessness of resistance. Darius never gathered another army. The capitals of the empire — Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis — surrendered, with enormous treasure in gold and silver, and the Persian Empire had fallen (3S1 b.c.)^ The Granicus, Issus, and Arbela rank with Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea, as " decisive " battles. The earlier set of three great battles gave Western civilization a chance to develop. This second set of three battles resulted in a new type of civilization, springing from a union of East and West. No battle between these two periods had anywhere near so great a significance. 279. Campaigns in the Far East. — The next six years went, however, to much more desperate warfare in the eastern moun- tain regions, and in the Punjab.^ Alexander carried his arms as far east from Babylon as Babylon was from Macedonia. He traversed great deserts ; subdued the warlike and princely chiefs of Bactria and Sogdiana up to the steppes of the wild Tartar tribes beyond the Oxus ; twice forced the passes of the Hindukush (a feat almost unparalleled) ; conquered the valiant mountaineers of what is now Afghanistan ; and led his army into the fertile and populous plains of north- ern India. He crossed the Indus, won realms beyond the ancient Persian province of the Punjab, and planned still 1 A district of northern India. 272 THE HELLENISTIC AGE [§280 more distant empires; but on the banks of the Hyphasis Eiver his faithful Macedonians refused to be led farther, to waste away in inhuman perils ; and the chagrined conqueror was compelled to return to Babylon. This city he made his capital, and here he died of a fever two years later (323 b.c.) in the midst of preparations to extend his conquests both east and west.^ These last years, however, were given mainly to organizing the empire (§ 280). 280. Merging of East and West. — Alexander began his con- quest to avenge the West upon the East. But he came to see excellent and noble qualities in Oriental life, and he rose rapidly to a broader view. He aimed no longer to hold a world in subjection by the force of a small conquering tribe but rather to mold Persian and Greek into one people on terms of equality. He wished to marry the East and the West, — " to bring them together into a composite civilization, to which each should contribute its better elements." Persian youth were trained by thousands in Macedonian fashion to replace the veterans of Alexander's army ; Persian nobles were welcomed at court and given high offices ; and the government of Asia was intrusted largely to Asiatics, on a system similar to that of Darius the Great (§ 76). Alexander himself adopted Persian manners and customs, and he bribed and coaxed his officers and soldiers to do the like. All this was part of a deliberate design to encourage the fusion of the two peoples. The Macedonians protested jealously, and even rebelled, but were quickly reduced to obedience. " The dream of his youth melted away, but a new vision in larger perspective arose with ever strengthening outlines in its place. The champion of the West against the East faded in mist, and the form of a world monarch, standing above the various worlds of men and belong- ing to none, but molding them all into one, emerged in its stead." — Wheeler, Alexander the Great. 376. 1 Topic : anecdotes of Alexander's later years ; the change in his character. Wheeler's Alexander gives an ardent defense. 282] GREEK CITIES IN THE EAST 273 281. Hellenism the Active Element. — At the same time Alex- ander saw that to fulfill this mission he must throw open the East to Greek ideas. The races might mingle their blood ; the Greek might learn much from the Orient, and in the end be absorbed by it ; hut the tliouglit and art of little Hellas, ivith its active energy, must leaven the vast passive mass of the East. One great measure, for this end, was the found- ing of chains of cities, to bind the conquests to- gether and to become the homes of Hellenic influ- ence. Alexander himself built seventy of these towns (usually called from his name, like the Alex- andria in Egypt). Their walls sprang up under the pick and spade of the sol- diery along the lines of march. One great city, we are told, walls and houses, was completed in twenty days. Sometimes these places were mere garrison towns on dis- tant frontiers, but oftener they became mighty emporiums at the intersection of great lines of trade. There was an Alexandria on the Jaxartes, on. the Indus, on the Euphrates, as well as on the Nile. The sites were chosen wisely, and many of these cities remain great capitals to this day, like Herat and Kandahar.^ 282. Greek Colonies in the Orient. — This building of Greek cities was continued by Alexander's successors. Once more, and on a vaster scale than ever before, the Greek genius for Alexander as Apollo. Now in the Capitoline Museum. 1 Iskandar, or Kandahar, is an Oriental form of the Greek name Alexander. 274 THE HELLENISTIC AGE [§ 282 colonization found vent. Each neiv city had a Greek nucleus. Usually this consisted only of worn-out veterans, left behind as a garrison ; but enterprising youth, emigrating from old Hellas, continued to reinforce the Greek element. The native village people roundabout were gathered in to make the bulk of the inhabitants ; and these also soon took on Greek character. From scattered, ignorant rustics, they became artisans and merchants, devotedly attached to Greek rule and zealous disciples of Greek culture. The cities were all built on a large and comfortable model. They were well paved. They had ample provision for light- ing by night, and a good water supply. They had police arrangements, and good thoroughfares. Even in that despotic East, they received extensive privileges and enjoyed a large amount of self-government : they met in their own assemblies, managed their own courts, and collected their own taxes^ For centuries they made the backbone of Hellenism throughout the world. Greek was the ordinary speech of their streets ; Greek architecture built their temples, and Greek sculpture adorned them ; they celebrated Greek games and festivals ; and, no longer in little Hellas alone, but over the whole East, in Greek theaters, vast audiences were educated by the plays of Euripides. The culture developed by a small people became the heritage of a vast world. The unity of this widespread civilization cannot be insisted upon too strongly. Political unity was soon lost ; but the oneness of culture en- dured for centuries, and kept its character even after Roman conquest. Over all that vast area there was for all cultivated men a common lan- guage, a common literature, a common mode of thought. The mingling of East and West produced a new civilization^ — a Graeco-Oriental world. In our own day, Western civilization is again transforming the Orient, leaving the railroad, the telegraph, free schools, and republican govern- ment in its line of march, — a march that reaches even farther than Alexander ever did. Between Alexander's day and ours, no like phe- nomena has been seen on any scale so vast. But this time the West does not give so large a part of its blood to the East ; nor does the East react upon the West, as it did after Alexander (§ 283). §285] REACTION UPON GREECE 275 283. Reaction upon Hellas. — Hellas itself lost importance. It was drained of its intellect and enterprise, because adven- turous young Greeks wandered to the East, to win fortune and distinction. And the victorious Hellenic civilization was modified b}^ its victory, even in its old home. Sympathies were broadened. The barrier between Greek and barbarian faded away. Greek ideals were affected by Oriental ideals. In particular, we note two forms of reaction upon Greek life, — the economic and the scientific (§§ 284, 285). 284. Economic Results. — Wealth was enormously augmented. The vast treasure of gold and silver which Oriental monarchs had hoarded in secret vaults was thrown again into circulation, and large sums were brought back to Europe by returning adventurers. These adventurers brought back also an increased desire for Oriental luxuries. Thus, trade was stimulated ; a higher standard of living arose ; manifold new comforts and enjoyments adorned and enriched life. Somewhat later, perhaps as a result of this increase of wealth, there came other less fortunate changes. Extremes of wealth and poverty appeared side by side, as in our modern society : the great cities had their hungry, sullen, dangerous mobs; and socialistic agitation began on a large scale. These last phe- nomena, however, concerned only the closing days of the Hellenic world, just before its absorption by Rome. 285. Scientific Results. — A new era of scientific progress began. Alexander himself had the zeal of an explorer, and one of the most important scientific expeditions ever sent out by any government is due to him while he was in India. When he first touched the Indus, he thought it the upper course of the Nile ; but he built a great fleet of two thousand vessels, sailed down the river to the Indian Ocean, and then sent his friend Nearchus to explore that sea and to trace the coast to the mouth of the Euphrates. After a voyage of many months, Nearchus reached Babylon. He had mapped the coast line, made frequent landings, and collected a ma^s of observations and a multitude of strange plants and animals. 276 THE HELLENISTIC AGE [§286 Like collections were made by Alexander at other times, to be sent to his old instructor Aristotle, who embodied the results of his study upon them in a Natural History of fifty volumes. The Greek intellect, attracted by the marvels in the new world opened before it, turned to scientific observation and arrange- ment of facts. This impulse wa^ intensified by the discovery of a long series of astronomical observations at Babylon (§ 49) and of the historical records and traditions of the Orientals, reaching back to an antiquity of which the Greeks had not dreamed. The active Greek mind, seizing upon this confused wealth of material, began to put in order a great system of knowledge about man and nature. 286. Summary. — Thus the mingling of East and West gave a product different from either of the old factors. Alexander's victories are not merely events in military history. They make an epoch in the onward march of humanity. They en- larged the map of the world once more, and they made these vaster spaces the home of a higher culture. They grafted the new West upon the old East, — a graft from which sprang the civilization of imperial Rome. Alexander died at thirty-two, and his empire at once fell into fragments, Had he lived to seventy, it is hard to say what he might not have done to provide for lasting political union, and perhaps even to bring India and China into the current of our civilization. For Further Reading. — Specially suggested: Davis' Headings, Vol. I, Nos. 108-118 (24 pages, mostly from Arrian, a second century writer and the earliest authority who has left us an account of Alexander) . Bury, 736-836. CHAPTER XVIII THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD THE POLITICAL STORY 287. Wars of the Succession. — Alexander left no heir old enough to succeed him. On his deathbed, asked to whom he would leave his throne, he replied grimly, " To the strongest." As he foresaw, at his death his leading generals instantly began to strive with each other for his realm ; and for nearly half a century the political history of the civilized world was a horrible welter of war and assassination. These struggles are called the Wais of the Succession (323-280 B.C.). 288. The Third Century B.C. — Finally, about 280 b.c, some- thing like a fixed order emerged ; then followed a period of sixty years, known as the Glory of Hellenism. The Hellenistic ^ world reached from the Adriatic to the Indus, and consisted of: (1) three great kingdoms, Syria, Egypt, and Macedonia; (2) a broken chain of smaller monarchies scattered from Media to Epirus'^ (some of them, like Pontus and Armenia, under dynasties descended from Persian princes) ; and (3) single free cities like Byzantium. Some of these free cities united into leagues, which sometimes became great military powers — like one famous confederation under the leadership of Bhodes. 289. Resemblance to Modern Europe. — Politically in many ways all the vast district bore a striking resemblance to modern Europe. There was a like division into great and small states, ruled by dynasties related by intermarriages ; there was a com- mon civilization, and a recognition of common interests as 1 Hellenic refers to the old Hellas ; Hellenistic, to the wider world, of mixed Hellenic and Oriental character, after Alexander. 2 There is a full enumeration in Mahaffy's Alexander's Empire, 90-92. 277 278 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 290 against outside barbarism or as opposed to any non-Hellenic power, like Rome ; and there were jealousies and conflicts similar to those in Europe in recent centuries. There were shifting alliances, and many wars to preserve " the balance of power " or to secure trade advantages. There was a likeness to modern society, too, as we shall see more fully later, in the refinement of the age, in its excellences and its vices, the great learning, the increase in skill and in criticism. (Of course the age was vastly inferior to that of modern Europe.) It follows that the history of the third century is a history of many separate countries (§§ 292 ft'.). But there was one event of general interest. 290. The Invasion by the Gauls. — Here we have to speak for the first time of the Gauls or Celts. (See § 8.) This nation had emigrated, as indeed had the other nations of Europe, from Asia. After inhabiting for some time parts of present Ger- many, they finally fixed their abodes somewhere northwest of the Alps. They soon occupied all present France, Britain, and Ireland, and a great part of Spain. To the south of Europe they were far more known for their prowess and thirst for conquest and plunder than for the other qualities to which they owe their place in history, namely, their remarkable talent for technical and literary skill and a still greater aptitude for religious enthusiasm. For the time being they were in a period of unrest. Large multitudes of them mi- grated to northern Italy and settled there. One of their bands penetrated into the very heart of the peninsula, defeated a Roman army and plundered and burned the city of Rome itself (§ 375). Other hordes traveled further west and settled in various places along the Danube, without, however, making them the goal of their wanderings. In fact, in their unsubdued aggressiveness they became for some time a stand- ing menace to the civilized nations on the shores of the Aegean Sea. One of these Gallic invasions, in b.c. 278, was the first really formidable attack upon the Eastern world since the Scythians § 292] SYRIA 279 had been chastised by the early Persian kings (§ 75). For- tunately it did not take place before the ruinous wars of the succession were over. The Gauls poured into exhausted Mace- donia and advanced into Greece as far as Delphi. They made a raid on the famous temple of Apollo to carry off its immense treasures. But somehow they were routed in disorder. Apollo, it was said, had driven them away with his thunderbolts. After horrible ravages they carried havoc into Asia. For a long period every great sovereign of the Hellenic world turned his arms upon them, until they were finally settled as peaceful colonists in a region of Asia Minor, which took the name Galatia from these new inhabitants.^ — The Hellenistic patriot- ism roused by this attack played a part in the splendid out- burst of art and literature which followed. 291. Decline of the Hellenistic World. — About 220, the wide- spread Hellenistic world began a rapid decline. In that year the thrones of Syria, Egypt, and Macedonia fell to youth- ful heirs ; and all three of these new monarchs showed a degeneracy which is common in Oriental ruling families after a few generations of greatness. Just before this year, as we shall see (§ 310), the last promise of independence in Greece itself had flickered out. Just after it, there began an attack from Rome, which was finally to absorb this Hellenistic East into a still larger world. Before turning to the growth of Rome, however, we will note (i) the history, in brief, of the leading Hellenic states from Alexander to the Roman sway; (2) with more detail, an interesting attempt at federal government in Greece itself ; and (3) the character of Hellenistic culture in this period. SOME SINGLE EASTERN STATES IN OUTLINE 292. Syria was the largest of the great monarchies. It com- prised most of Alexander's empire in Asia, except the small 1 These new inhabitants preserved their national individuality for several centuries. St. Paul addressed one of his letters to " the Galatians." 280 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD 292 states in Asia Minor. In the Wars of the Succession, it fell to Seleucus, one of the Macedonian generals ; and his descend- ants (Seleucidae) ruled it to the Roman conquest. They Pylon of Ptolemy III at Karnak. The reliefs represent that conqueror in religious thanksgiving, sacrificing, praying, offering trophies to the gods. At the top is the "conventionalized " winged sundisk. Cf. page 36. Note the general likeness to the older Egyptian architecture. excelled all other successors of Alexander in building cities and extending Greek culture over distant regions. Seleucus alone founded seventy-five cities. § 294] EGYPT 281 About 250 B.C. Indian princes reconquered the Punjab, and the Parthians arose on the northeast, to cut off the Bactrian provinces from the rest of the Greek world. Thus Syria shrank to the area of the ancient Assyrian Empire, — the Euphrates-Tigris basin and okl Syria proper, — but it was still, in common opinion, the greatest world-power, until its might was shattered by Rome in 190 b.c. at Magnesia. 293. Egypt included Cyprus, and possessed a vague control over many coast towns of Syria and Asia Minor. Immedi- ately upon Alexander's death, one of his generals, Ptolemy, chose Egypt for his province. His descendants, all known as Ptolemies, ruled the land until Cleopatra yielded to Augustus Caesar (30 b.c), though it had become a Roman protectorate^ somewhat before that time. The early Ptolemies were wise, energetic sovereigns. They aimed to make Egypt the commercial emporium of the world, and to make their capital, Alexandria, the world's intellectual center. Ptolemy I established a great naval power, improved harbors, and built the first lighthouse. Ptolemy II (better known as Ptolemy Philadelphus) restored the old canal from the Red Sea to the Nile (§§ 28, 32), constructed roads, and fostered learning more than any great ruler before him (§ 319). Ptolemy III, in war with Syria, carried his arms to Bactria, and on his return mapped the coast of Arabia. Unlike earlier conquerors, he made no attempt to add territory to his realm by his victories, but only to secure trade advantages and a satisfactory peace. The later Ptolemies were weaklings or infamous monsters, guilty of every folly and crime ; but even they continued to encourage learning. 294. Macedonia ceased to be of great interest after the death of Alexander, except from a military point of view. Its posi- tion made it the first part of the Greek world to come into hostile contact with Rome. King Philip V joined Carthage in a war against Rome, a little before the year 200 b.c. 1 That is, Rome had come to control all the relations of Egypt with foreign countries, although its government continued in name to be independent. 282 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 295 A series of struggles resulted ; and Macedonia, witli parts of Greece, became Roman in 146 b.c. 295. Rhodes and Pergamum. — Among the many small states, two deserve special mention. Rhodes headed a confederacy of cities in the Aegean, and in the third century she became the leading commercial state of the Mediterranean. Her policy was one of peace and freedom of trade. Pergamum was a small Greek kingdom in Asia Minor, which the genius of its rulers (the Attalids) made prominent in politics and art. When the struggles with Rome began, Pergamum allied itself with that power, and long remained a favored state. THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE IN GREECE 296. The Political Situation. — During the ruinous Wars of the Succession, Greece had been a favorite battleground for the great powers, Egypt, Syria, and Macedonia. Many cities were laid waste, and at the close of the contests, the country was left a vassal of Macedonia. To make her hold firmer, Macedonia set up tyrants in many cities. From this humilia- tion, Greece was lifted for a time by a new power, the Achaean League, which made a last effort for the freedom of Hellas. 297. Earlier Confederations. — In early times, in the more backward parts of Greece, there had been many rude federa- tions of tribes, as among the Phocians and Locrians ; but in city-Greece no such union had long survived. The failure of the Confederacy of Delos has been told. During the supremacy of Sparta (about 400 b.c.) another still more interesting federal union appeared for a brief time on the northern coast of the Aegean. Olynthus. a leading Greek city in the Chalcidic district, built up a con- federacy of forty states, to check the Thracian and Macedonian barbarians, who had begun to stir themselves after the fall of the Athenian power. This league is called the Olyntliian Confederacy. Its cities kept their local independence ; but they were merged, upon equal terms, into a large state more perfect than any preceding federal union. The citizens of any one city could intermarry with those of any other., and they could dwell and acquire landed property anywhere within the league ; while no one city had superior privileges over the others., as Athens had had in the §299] THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE 283 Delian League. After only a short life, as we have seen, this promising union was crushed ruthlessly by jealous Sparta (§ 261). 298. Aetolian League. — Now, after 280 b.c, two of the an- cient tribal federations whicli had survived in obscure corners of Greece — Achaea and Aetolia — began to play leading parts in history. Of these two, the Aetolian League was the less important. Originally it seems to have been a loose union of mountain districts for defense. But the Wars of the Succession made the Aetolians famous as bold soldiers of fortune, and the wealth brought home by the thousands of such adventurers led to a more aggressive policy on the part of the league. The people remained, however, rude mountaineers, " brave, boast- ful, rapacious, and utterly reckless of the rights of others.'' They played a part in saving southern Greece from the invad- ing Gauls (§ 290), but their confederacy became more and more an organization for lawless plunder. 299. Achaean League : Origin. — In Achaea there was a nobler history. A league of small towns grew into a formidable power, freed most of Greece, brought much of it into a federal union, with all members on equal terms, and for a glorious half century maintained Greek freedom successfully. The story offers curious contrasts to the period of Athenian leadership two hundred years earlier. Greece could no longer hope to become one of the great military powers ; we miss the intellectual brilliancy, too, of the fifth century ; but the period affords even more instructive political lessons — especially to Americans, interested, as we are, in federal in- stitutions. The most important political matter in Greek history in the third century B.C. is this experiment in federal government. The people of Achaea were unwarlike, and not very enter- prising or intellectual. In all Greek history they produced no great writer or great artist. They did not even furnish great statesmen, — for all the heroes of the league were to come from outside Achaea itself. Still, the Achaean League is one of the most remarkable federations in history before the adoption of the present Constitution of the United States, 284 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 300 We know that there was some kind of a confederation in Achaea as early as the Persian War. Under the Macedonian rule, the league was destroyed and tyrants were set up in several of the ten Achaean cities. But, about 280 B.C., four small towns revived the ancient confederacy. This union swiftly drove out the tyrants from the neighboring towns, and absorbed all Achaea. One generous incident belongs to this part of the story: Iseas, tyrant of Cerynea, voluntarily gave up his power and brought his city into the league. So far Macedonia had not interfered. The Gallic invasion just at this time spread ruin over all the north of Hellas, and probably prevented hostile action by the Macedonian king. Thus the federation became securely established. 300. Government. — During this period the constitution was formed. The chief authority of the league was placed in a Federal Assembly. This was not a representative body, but a mass meeting: it was made up of all citizens of the league who chose to attend. To prevent the city where the meeting was held from outweighing the others, each city was given only one vote. That is, ten or twelve men — or even one man — from a distant town cast the vote of that city, and counted just as much as several hundred from a city nearer the place of meeting. The Assembly was held twice a year, for only three days at a time, and in some small city, so that a great capital should not overshadow the rest of the league. It chose yearly a Council of Ten, a Senate, and a General (or president), with various subordinate officers. The same General could not be chosen two years in succession. This government raised federal taxes and armies, and rep- resented the federation in all foreign relations. Each city remained a distinct state, with full control over all its internal matters — but no city of itself could make peace or war, enter into alliances, or send ambassadors to another state. That is, the Achaean League was a true federation, and not a mere alliance ; and its cities corresponded closely to the American States under our old Articles of Confederation. §302] THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE 285 301. Faults in the Government. — In theory, the constitution was extremely democratic : in practice, it proved otherwise. Men attended the Assembly at their own expense. Any Achaean might come, but only the tvealthy could afford to do so, as a regular thing. Moreover, since the meetings of the As- sembly were few and brief, great authority had to be left to the General and Council. Any Achaean was eligible to these offices ; but poor men could hardly afford to take them, because they had no salaries. The Greek system of a primary assembly was suited only to single cities. A 2)rimary assembly made the city of Athens a perfect democracy : the same institution made the Achaean League intensely aristocratic. The constitution was an advance over all other Greek federa- tions, but it had two other faults. (1) It made little use of representation, which no doubt would have seemed to the Achaeans undemocratic (§ 128), but which in practice would have enabled a larger part of the citizens to have a voice in the government; and (2) all cities, great or small, had the same vote. This last did not matter much at first, for the little Achaean towns did not differ greatly in size; but it became a plain injustice when the union came later to contain some of the most powerful cities in Greece. However, this feature was almost universal in early confederacies,^ and it was the prin- ciple of the American Union until 1789. 302. First Expansion beyond Achaea. — The power of the Gen- eral was so great that the history of the league is the biog- raphy of a few great men. The most remarkable of these 1 The one exception was the Lycian Confederacy in Asia Minor. The Lyciaus were not Greeks, apparently ; but they had taken on some Greek culture, and their federal union was an advance even upon the Achaean. It was absorbed by Rome, however, in 54 a.d., before it played an important part in history. In its Assembly, the vote was taken by cities, hut the cities were divided into three classes : the largest had three votes each, the next class two each, and. the smallest onhj one. In the Philadelphia Convention, in 1787, several American statesmen wished to adopt this Lycian plan for our States in the Federal Congress. 286 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§303 leaders was Aratus of Sicyon. Sicyon was a city just outside Achaea, to the east. It had been ruled by a vile and bloody tyrant, who drove many leading citizens into exile. Among these exiles was the family of Aratus. When a youth of twenty years (251 b.c.) Aratus planned, by a night attack, to overthrow the tyrant and free his native city. The daring venture was brilliantly successful; but it aroused the hatred of Macedon, and, to preserve the freedom so nobly won, Aratus brought Sicyon into the Achaean federation. 303. Aratus.^ — Five years later, Aratus was elected Gen- eral of the league, and thereafter, he held that office each alternate year (as often as the constitution permitted) until his death, thirty-two years later. Aratus hated tyrants, and longed for a free and united Greece. He extended the league far beyond the borders of Achaea, and made it a champion of Hellenic freedom. He aimed at a noble end, but did not refuse base means. He was incorruptible himself, and he lavished his vast wealth on the union; but he was bitterly jealous of other leaders. With plenty of daring in a dashing project, as he many times proved, he lacked nerve to command in battle, and he never won a real victory in the field. Still, despite his many defeats, his per- suasive power and his merits kept him the confidence of the union to the end of a long public life. 304. Growth of the League ; Lydiadas. — In his second gen- eralship, Aratus freed Corinth from her Macedonian tyrant by a desperate night attack upon the garrison of the citadel. That powerful city then entered the union. So did Megara, which itself drove out its Macedonian garrison. The league now commanded the isthmus, and was safe from attack by Macedonia. Then several cities in Arcadia joined, and, in 234, Megalopolis (§ 265) was added, — at that time one of the leading cities in Greece. 1 Aratus is the first statesman known to us from his own memoirs. That work itself no longer exists, but Plutarch drew upon it for his Life, as did Polybius for his History. 305] THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE 287 Some years earlier the government of Megalopolis had be- come a tyranny : LydiacJas, a gallant and enthusiastic youth, seized despotic power, meaning to use it for good ends.^ The growth of the Achaean League opened a nobler way : Lydiadaa resigned his tyranny, and as a private citizen brought the Great City into the union. This act made him a popular hero, and Aratus became his MGEAN bitter foe. The new leader was the more lovable figure, — gen- erous and ardent, a soldier as well as a statesman. Several times he became Gen- eral of the league, but even in office he was often thwarted by the disgraceful trickery of the older man. 305. The Freeing of Athens and Argos. — For many years Ara- tus had aimed to free Athens and Argos — sometimes by heroic endeavors, sometimes by assassination and poison. In 229, he succeeded. He bought the withdrawal of Macedonian troops from the Piraeus, and Athens became an ally, though not a member, of the league.^ The tyrant of Argos was persuaded or frightened into following the example THE ACHAEAN AND AETOLIAN LEAGUES, ABOUT 225 B.C. 1 This was true of several tyrants in this age, and it was due no douht in part to the new respect for monarchy since Alexander's time, and in part to new theories of government taught by the philosophers. 2 The old historic cities, Athens and Sparta, could not be brought to look favorably upon such a union. 288 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§ 306 of Iseas and Lydiadas, — as had happened meanwhile in many smaller cities, — and Argos joined the confederacy. The league now was the commanding power in Hellas. It included all Peloponnesus except Sparta and Elis. Moreover, all Greece south of Thermopylae had become free, — largely through the influence of the Achaean league, — and most of the states not inside the union had at least entered into friendly alliance with it. But now came a fatal conflict with Sparta. 306. Need of Social Reforms in Sparta. — The struggle was connected with a great reform within that ancient city. The forms of the "Lycurgan" constitution had survived through many centuries, but now Sparta had only seven hundred full citizens (cf. §§ 254, 263). This condition brought about a violent agitation for reform. And about the year 243, Agis, one of the Spartan kings, set himself to do again what Lycurgus had done in legend. 307. Agis was a youthful hero, full of noble daring and pure enthusiasm. He gave his own property to the state and per- suaded his relatives and friends to do the like. He planned to abolish all debts, and to divide the land among forty-five hundred Spartan " Inferiors " (§ 254) and fifteen thousand other Lacouians, so as to refound the state upon a broad and democratic basis. Agis could easily have won by violence ; but he refused such methods, and sought his ends by con- stitutional means only. The conservative party rose in fierce opposition. By order of the Ephors, the young king was seized, with his noble mother and grandmother, and murdered in prison, — "the purest and noblest spirit that ever perished through deeming others as pure and noble as himself." 308. Cleomenes. — But the ideals of the martyr lived on. His wife was forced to marry Cleomenes, son of the other king; and, //-om her, this prince adopted the hopes of Agis. Cleomenes became king in 236. He had less of high sensitiveness and of stainless honor than Agis, but he is a grand and colossal figure. He bided his time ; and then, when the Ephors were planning to use force against him, he struck first. §310] THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE 289 Aratus had led the Achaean League into war ^ with Sparta in order to unite all the Peloponnesus ; but the military genius of Cleomenes made even enfeebled Sparta a match for the great league. He won two great victories. Then, the league being helpless for the moment, he used his popularity to secure reform in Sparta. The oligarchs were plotting against him, but he was enthusiastically supported by the disfranchised multitudes. Leaving his Spartan troops at a distance, he hurried to the city by forced marches with some chosen followers. There he seizer"" and slew the Ephors, and pro- claimed a new constitution, which contained the reforms of Agis. 309. Sparta Victorious over the League. — Cleomenes designed to make this new Sparta the head of the Peloponnesus. He and Aratus each desired a free, united Greece, but under different leadership. Moreover, Sparta now stood forth the advocate of a kind of socialism, and so was particularly hate- ful to the aristocratic government of the league. The struggle between the two powers was renewed with fresh bitterness. Cleomenes won more victories, and then, with the league at his feet, he offered generous terms. He demanded that Sparta be admitted to the union as virtual leader. This would have created the greatest power ever seen in Greece, and, for the time, it would have made a free Hellas sure. The Achaeans were generally in favor of accepting the proposal; but Aratus — jealous of Cleomenes and fearful of social reform — broke off the negotiations by underhanded methods. 310. Aratus calls in Macedon. — Then Aratus bought the aid of ^lacedon against Sparta, by betray ing Corinth, a free member of the league and the city connected with his own most glorious exploit. As a result, the federation became a pi'Otector- ate of Macedonia, holding no relations with foreign states except through that power. The war now became a struggle 1 In a battle in this war Aratus held back the Achaean phalanx, while Lydiadas, heading a gallant charge, was overpowered by numbers. 290 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§311 for Greek freedom, waged by Sparta under her hero king against the overwhelming power of ]\Iacedon assisted by the confederacy as a vassal state. Aratus had undone his own great work. The date (222 b.c.) coincides with the general decline of the Hellenic world (§ 291). For a while, Sparta showed surprising vigor, and Cleomenes was marvelously successful. The league indeed dwindled to a handful of petty cities. But in the end Macedonia prevailed. Cleomenes fled to Egypt, to die in exile ; and Sparta opened her gates for the first time to a con- quering army. The league was restored to its old extent, but its glory was gone. It still served a useful purpose in keeping peace and order over a large part of Peloponnesus, but it was no longer the champion of a free ilellas. 311. Final Decline. — Soon after, war followed between Achaea and Aetolia. This contest became a struggle between Macedonia and her vassals on the one side, and Aetolia aided by Rome on the other ; for as Achaea had called in Macedonia against Sparta, so now Aetolia called in Rome against Achaea and Macedonia, — and Greek history closed. Some gleams of glory shine out at the last in the career of Philopoemen of Megalopolis, the greatest general the Achaean League ever produced, and one of the noblest characters in history ; but the doom of Achaea was already sealed. " Philo- poemen," says Freeman, " was one of the heroes who struggle against fate, and who are allowed to do no more than to stave off a destruction which it is beyond their power to avert." These words are a fitting epitaph for the great league itself. HELLENISTIC SOCIETY 312. General Culture. — From 280 to 150 b.c. was the period of chief splendor for the new, widespread Hellenism. It was a great and fruitful age. Society was refined ; the position of woman improved ; private fortunes abounded, and private houses possessed works of art which, in earlier times, would have been found only in palaces or temples. For the reverse §314] LITERATURE 291 side, there was corruption in high places, and hungry and threatening mobs at the base of society. Among the countless cities, all homes of culture, five great intellectual centers appeared — Athens, Alexandria, Rhodes, Pergamos, Antioch. The glory of Alexandria extended over the whole period, which is sometimes known as the Alexan- drian age ; the others held a special preeminence, one at one time, one at another. Athens, however, always excelled in philosophy, and Rhodes in oratory.^ 313. Literature. — The many-sided age produced new forms in art and literature: especially, (1) the jyrose romance, a story of love and adventure, the forerunner of the modern novel ; (2) the pastoral poetry of Theocritus, which was to influence Virgil and Tennyson ; and (3) personal memoirs. The old Attic comedy, too, became the " New Comedy "' of Menander and his followers, devoted to satirizing gently the life and manners of the time. In general, no doubt, the tendency in literature was toward critical scholarship rather than toward great and fresh crea- tion. Floods of books appeared, more notable for style than matter. Treatises on literary criticism abounded; the science of grammar was developed ; and poets prided themselves upon writing all kinds of verse equally well. Intellectually, in its faults, as in its virtues, the time strikingly resembles our own. 314. Painting and Sculpture. — Painting gained prominence. Zeuxis, Parrhasius, and Apelles are the most famous Greek names connected with this art, which was now carried to great perfection. According to popular stories, Zeuxis painted a cluster of grapes so that birds pecked at them, while Apelles painted a horse so that real horses neighed at the sight. Despite the attention given to painting, Greek sculpture produced some of its greatest work in this period. Multitudes of splendid statues were created — so abundantly, indeed, that even the names of the artists are not preserved. 315. Greek Philosophy after Socrates. — Plato. We may dis- 1 Caesar and Cicero studied oratory at Rliodes. 292 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§316 tinguisli three periods, corresponding to the three chief divi- sions of remaining Greek history.^ For the Period of Spartan and Theban Leadership. — The most famous disciple of Socrates is known to the world under the name Plato, the "broad-browed." This name and that of his pupil Aristotle are among the greatest in the history of thought. Plato elaborated a vast and consistent system of Philosophy. He strikingly displays before us the infinite greatness, goodness, and wisdom of God — One God — His sovereignty over the world, the spirituality and immortality of the soul and the reward of virtue and punishment of vice. He also preserved some traditions of man's original innocence, his fall from grace, and the existence of superior intelligences between God and man. But many of his teachings rest on no solid reasonings and the gross errors mixed with them show the limitation of most highly gifted human minds. Truth and error are most strangely mixed in his theory of Ideas. Nothing is in existence except by partaking of an idea. A man is kind, for instance, only because he has in him a share of the idea of kindness. The idea itself is eternal and inde- structible. The ideas in our minds were not acquired ; we possessed them before we came into our present existence. In spite of such and similar deficiencies his philosophy, taken as a whole, exhibits a noble, powerful, and poetic mind, grappling with the important problems of life and of the world around us with considerably more success than any of his predecessors. 316. Aristotle. — Tlie Macedonian Period. Aristotle, for twenty years Plato's disciple, by far outshines his master. He gave to the world the most comprehensive system of uni- versal knowledge, whose basic principles will ever be recog- nized by the thinkers of the world. In his investigations he proceeds directly from life and experience. There has hardly ever been a man in whom the keenest power of observation 1 It is impossible to do justice to Greek pliilosopliy in general and much less to the present period in a book like this. Histories of philosophy, as Turner's or Coppens', must be consulted if full information is desired. § 317] LITERATURE 293 was combined with so much intellectual penetration, bold gen- eralizing, and careful deduction. The ideas in our minds are acquired through the operation of the senses, which convey to the intellect the material upon which the latter begins its activity and rises to spiritual (immaterial) concepts. Ideas are eternal only as far as the knowledge of things was from all eternity in the infinite mind of God. Aristotle's system, though not free from serious shortcom- ings, is so perfect that its chief outlines and very much of its details became the fundamental doctrines of the great Chris- tian philosophers of the Middle Ages. St. Thomas and the other scholastics refer to him simply as " The Philosopher." Reverend William Turner thus ends his estimate of Aristo- telian Philosophy : — " Aristotle's philosophy is the synthesis and culmination of the specula- tions of pre-Socratic and Socratic schools. His doctrine of causes is an epitome of all that Greek philosophy had up to his time accomplished. But it is especially with Plato, his master, that Aristotle is to be compared, and it is by his additions to Platonic teaching that he is to be judged. Plato built out of the ruins of pre-Socratic speculation a complete meta- physical structure according to a definite plan, — a structure beautiful in its outlines, perfect in its symmetry, but insecure and unstable, like one of those golden palaces of fairyland, which we fear to approach and examine lest it vanish into airy nothingness. Aristotle, on the contrary, drew his plan with a firmer hand ; he laid the foundation of his phi- losophy deep on the rock bottom of experience, and although all the joints in the fabric are not equally secure, the care and consistency with which the design is executed are apparent to every observer. It was left for Scholastic philosophy to add the pinnacle to the structure, which Aristotle had carried as far towards completion as human thought could build unaided." {Hist, of Philos., p. 157.) 317. Minor Philosophic Systems. — After Alexander. Two schools are best described by stating that they tried to answer the question : How can man become happy ? T7ie Stoics, so called from the Stoa^ where their founder Zeno used to teach, 1 For explanation of this term see description of map on page 206. Zeno taught in the hall called "the Painted" from its famous wall paintings. Besides the fact that it was situated north of the Agora little is known about 294 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§317 replied : By practicing virtue, i.e. by complete submission to the laws of man's nature and of the world around us. All passions and emotions must be subdued and annihilated. Everything happens with an unchangeable necessity ; bear patiently and without feeling what cannot be avoided. The principle of the Epicureans was : Calculate so that you may derive from your life the greatest possible amount of pleasure and the smallest amount of pain. The caution, feeble enough in itself, that this requires frugality, simple habits, friendship, and abstinence from excess, was widely disregarded by the practical followers of this theory. It must be borne in mind, however, that both these answers are only the necessary con- clusions from their cardinal concepts of the world and the divinity, which were completely wrong. Stoics as well as Epicureans believed in a kind of general brotherhood of men. At this time the Skeptics (Considerers) made their appear- ance, who maintained everything must be doubted ; one should not worry about anything that occurs, because it might after all not even be real. The Eclectics did not attempt to introduce anything like a real new philosophy. They looked only for some common basis on which to found a system of practical conduct. For this purpose they " selected " whatever they thought correct in any system. Hence their name. One more school should be mentionod here, though it belongs chiefly to an earlier period, namely the Cynics. They are somewhat similar in doctrine to the Stoics ; in fact, Zeno the Stoic was one of them for some time. They were one-sided followers of Socrates. According to them the essence of virtue is self-control, by which they understood the complete absence of all material and accidental needs. They ostentatiously threw away all the comforts of life and sneered at the relations of family life and the love and laws of country and religion. With the immorality of the its location. Similarly Plato's school is often styled the Academics, from the Academy, a building somewhere in the outskirts of the city, where he used to assemble his hearers. Aristotle would walk about with his disciples in the shady avenues of the Lyceum (see map), while conversing with them; hence the name of Peripatetics was given to them, from a Greek verb meaning to walk up and down. §319] PHILOSOPHY 295 time, which they pretended to combat, they also rejected its morality and culture. All was nothing to them, because they said they needed nothing and nobody. One of them, Diogenes, lived for many years in a tub.^ The word Cynic means doglike. It is easy to see the connection between the name and their conduct. 318. New Character of Philosophy. — Philosophy, after Socra- tes, took on a more moral and practical character. Educated people desired to have some rules and principles according to which to guide themselves in their actions. Philosophers became the teachers of conduct. As far as they reflected the truths proclaimed by nature in every man's heart or the glimpses of supernatural revelation which had survived or been obtained through some contact with the Hebrews, they did a great service to mankind and contributed their share towards the reception of Christianity. In the complete absence of any real religious teaching they performed in an imperfect way the office of our clergy. But after all, they benefited only the man of leisure. The people in the street, the toilers and slaves, were not as much as thought of when the philosopher discoursed gravely on happiness or the moral rights and duties of man. 319. Libraries and ''Museums"' ("Universities"). — The clos- ing age of Hellenistic history saw the forerunner of the modern university. The beginning was made at Athens. Plato (§ 315), by his will, left his gardens and other property to his followers, organized in a club. Athenian law did not recognize the right of any group of people to hold property, unless it were a re- ligious body. Therefore this club claimed to be organized for the worship of the Muses, who were the patrons of literature and learning ; and the name museum was given to the institu- tion. This loas the first endowed academy, and the first union of teachers and learners into a corporation."^ 1 Special report : the stories of Diogenes. 2 A corporation is a body of men recognized by the law as a " person " so far as property rights go. 296 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§320 The idea has never since died out of the world. The model and name were used a little later by the Ptolemies at Alexan- dria in their Museum. This was a richly endowed institution, with large numbers of students. It had a great library of over half a million volumes (manuscripts), with scribes to make careful copies of them and to make their meaning more clear, when necessary, by explanatory notes. It had also observa- tories and botanical and zoological gardens, with collections of rare plants and animals from distant parts of the world. The librarians, and the other scholars who were gathered about the institution, devoted their lives to a search for knowledge and to teaching ; and so they corresponded to the faculty of a modern university. "The external appearance [of the Museum] was that of a group of buildings which served a common purpose — temple of the Muses, library, porticoes, dwellings, and a hall for meals, which were taken together. The inmates were a community of scholars and poets, on whom the king bestowed the honor and privilege of being allowed to work at his expense with all imaginable assistance ready to hand. . . . The managing board was composed of priests, but the most influential post was that of libra- rian." — Holm, History of Greece., IV, 307. One enterprise, of incalculable benefit to the later world, shows the zeal of the Ptolemies in collecting and translating texts. Alexandria had many Jews in its population, but they were coming to use the Greek language. Philadelphus, for their benefit, had the Hebrew Scriptures translated into Greek. This is the famous Septua(jint translation, so called from the tradition that it was the work of seventy scholars. 320. Science made greater strides than ever before in an equal length of time. Medicine, surgery, botany, and mechan- ics became real sciences for the first time. Archimedes of Syracuse discovered the principle of the lever, and of specific gravity, and constructed burning mirrors and new hurling engines which made effective siege artillery.^ Euclid, a Greek at Alexandria, building upon the old Egyptian knowledge, pro- duced the geometry which is still taught in our schools with 1 See Davis' Readings, Vol. H, No. 27. 320] SCIENCE 297 little addition. Eratosthenes (born 276 B.C.), the librarian at Alexandria, wrote a systematic work on geography, invented delicate astronomical instruments, and devised the present way of measuring the circumference of the earth — with results nearly correct. A little later, Aristarchus taught that the earth moved round the sun ; and Hipparchus calculated eclipses, catalogued the stars, wrote books on astronomy, and ^^^" PER THULEN ■> 7 lERNE^ Bactriana ^^iiA THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ERATOSTHENES (The Latin names are taken from Strabo, two centuries later, who closely followed Eratosthenes.) founded the science of trigonometry. Aristotle had already given all the proofs of the sphericity of the earth that are common in our text-books now (except that of actual circum- navigation) and had asserted that men could probably reach Asia by sailing ivest from Europe. The scientific spirit gave rise, too, to actual voyages of exploration into many regions ; and daring discoverers brought back from northern regions what seemed wild tales of icebergs gleaming in the cold aurora of the polar skies. The lighthouse built by the first Ptolemy on the island of Pharos, in the harbor of Alexandria, shows that the new civilization had begun to make practical use of science to 298 THE GRAECO-ORIENTAL WORLD [§321 advance human welfare. The tower rose 325 feet into the air, and from the summit a group of polished reflecting mirrors threw its light at night far out to sea. 321. The Greek contributions to our civilization can hardly be named in detail as those of the Oriental nations. Egypt and Babylonia gave us some very important outer features. Greece as it were infused a ne^v spirit. Hers was essentially an educational task. In the development of all the purely secular branches of human knowledge and endeavor no nation has had an equally large share. The Greeks became the teachers of the Romans. " Conquered Greece caught her fierce conqueror." Roman poetry and oratory and whatever there was of Roman philosophy shaped itself after Greek models. And Rome passed on the treasure she had received to the peoples of the later centuries. Thus Greece through Rome is still teaching in our schools. The chief principles of Chris- tian philosophy were taken over bodily from the sages of the .^gean Sea. Greek education helped to prepare the world for the coming of Christianity and furnished the language in which the glad tidings of the Xew Testament were first written down in human speech. Yet Greek civilization w^as modified by the matter-of-fact genius of conquering and ruling Rome. It came to the largest part of Europe through the Romanized Celts, again to be affected by the mind of the Teutons. There is above all the paramount influence of the re- ligion of Jesus Christ with its Heaven-born truths and ideals. N"one of these factors may be omitted when judging of the in- fluence of Greece upon our present civilization. References for Further Study. — Specially suggested : Davis' Headings, Vol. I, Nos. 119-125 (19 pages, mostly from Polybius, Arrian, and Plutarch, the three Greek historians of that age). Additional: Plutarch's Lives ("Aratus," "Agis," "Cleomenes," "Philopoemen"), Mahaffy's Alexander's Empire. Exercise. — Review the various confederacies, — Peloponnesian, De- lian, Olynthian, Achaean, noting likenesses and contrasts. Review the period from Chaeronea to the death of Alexander by "catch words." § 321] REVIEW EXERCISES 299 REVIEW EXERCISES ON l^AHTS II AND III A. Fact Drills on Greek History 1. The class should form a Table of Dates s^radually as the critical points are reached, and should then drill upon it until it says itself as the alphabet does. Tlie following dates are enough for this drill in Greek history. The table should be filled out as is done for the first two dates. 776 B.C. First recorded Olympiad 338 B.C.. 490 " Marathon 222 " 405 " 146 " 371 " 2. Xame in order fifteen battles, between 776 and 146 b.c, stating for each the parties, leaders, result, and importance. (Such tables also should be made by degrees as the events are reached.) 3. Explain concisely the follounu